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Someone may want to rewrite Traffic’s look at the dark side of the music business (I think) in “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” to cover Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. Something like “The High Cost of Low-Heeled Joy” might work.

Shane Goldmacher provides the raw material in his November 17 New York Times story “How Kamala Harris Burned Through $1.5 Billion in 15 Weeks.” Subhead: “Her frenzied spending has led to second-guessing among some Democrats and questions as she has pressed for more cash since the election.”

Here is one resonant sentence: “It was a spree that averaged roughly $100 million per week.”

One more: “All told, the Biden and Harris campaigns collectively raised about $2.15 billion, two people said.”

And yet, it wasn’t enough either to win or perhaps even to cover current needs: “Since her loss, the Harris operation has pressed supporters for more cash with desperate-sounding solicitations, stirring fears about post-election debts. ‘Is there anything we can say?’ came one email asking for cash last Monday.”

And yet, we have to parse this:

Patrick Stauffer, the campaign’s chief financial officer, said in a statement that there had been no outstanding debts or overdue bills as of Election Day. He said that “there will be no debt” on the next Democratic National Committee and Harris for President campaign filings in December.

Donations made after the election to the “Harris Fight Fund” are being funneled to the Democratic National Committee, officials said.

Goldmacher has more on the campaign’s star-studded rallies:

One particular Harris payment has drawn attention in the aftermath of the election: the $1 million paid to Oprah Winfrey’s production firm, Harpo Productions. In an Instagram post, Ms. Winfrey said the company was paid to stage a live-streamed town hall in Detroit, providing the set, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers and even the chairs.

“I did not take any personal fee,” Ms. Winfrey wrote. “However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.”

The $1 million actually undercounts the full cost of the event, which ran closer to $2.5 million, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Another pricey choice was holding swing-state rallies featuring star performers on the eve of the election, including Lady Gaga in Philadelphia, Jon Bon Jovi in Detroit, Christina Aguilera in Nevada, James Taylor in North Carolina and Katy Perry in Pittsburgh.

The singers themselves were not compensated, officials said, but the support staff was. The overall bill for the election-eve rallies exceeded the planned budget and is said to have topped $10 million.

As the James Taylor song goes, “Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.”

Quotable quote: “Mr. Trump himself mocked the Harris team for its financial situation in a recent social-media post: ‘Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period,’ he offered.”

All that joy did not come cheap.