Politico has removed a report in which the news outlet accidentally mentioned California Senator Kamala Harris as presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden's pick for vice president.
"Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to become his running mate for the 2020 election on Aug. 1, two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, after keeping his choice close to the chest for months", the report read.
It was spotted by Mark Bednar, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who tweeted on Tuesday that the news outlet "labeled Sen. Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate […] that he chose on August 1 (4 days from now)".
Huh?
— Mark Bednar (@MarkBednar) July 28, 2020
Politico labeled Sen. Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate... that he chose on August 1 (4 days from now).https://t.co/M3dhmIwZ7o pic.twitter.com/99GDHzWPnL
Brad Dayspring, Politico's VP of marketing and communication, was cited by Fox News as saying that "placeholder text" for Harris was "mistakenly published to the site".
"Our standard practice is to use 'lorem ipsum' as placeholder text. In this instance, that did not happen. We regret the error and any confusion that it caused", Dayspring added.
The remarks came as Biden announced earlier on Tuesday that he would state his choice for running mate in the 3 November election during the first week of August and that he is "not prepared to say much more than that".
The former vice president did not specify about whether he would be able to meet with his selected pick in the near future amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement followed Politico claiming earlier this week that choosing a running mate was still an issue for Biden because the presumptive Democratic presidential hopeful allegedly needs a person who "could be to him what he was to [former] President Barack Obama: a friend and confidant who subordinated his political interests to those of his boss".
In March, Biden promised to select a woman to be his running mate, referring to a spate of those "who are qualified to be president tomorrow".
Since then, a whole array of names have been suggested, including Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Tammy Duckworth as well as former US National Security Adviser Susan Rice along with representatives Val Demings and Karen Bass.
