Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was confused by the sight of Vice President Kamala Harris presiding over the upper chamber last year to cast a tie-breaking vote, according to a report touching on the difficulties the ailing lawmaker faces as she seeks to continue discharging her duties. …

According to Times White House reporter Annie Karnie, Feinstein expressed confusion to her colleagues when she saw Harris appear in the Senate in one of a host of tiebreaking votes the vice president has had to cast while assuming her constitutional role.

“What is she doing here?” Feinstein asked, the report details. The article ascribes the observation to “a person who witnessed the scene.”

[This is an unfortunate tradition in the Senate. Both Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd were reportedly non compos mentis at the end of their long careers in the upper chamber. What is a bit non-traditional is the media attention about it for a Democrat. The national media seems surprisingly interested in pressuring Feinstein to resign and to force Gavin Newsom to replace her, something he reportedly would love to avoid if possible. — Ed]