Beto didn't enter late. He entered well within the normal timeframe.
The problem were the following:
- The Vanity Fair got him off the wrong foot with the chattering class because it made him look "entitled".
- He avoided doing any news with the national media and wanted to replicate his Texas strategy of going directly to voters and standing on tables and tree stumps. But those won't move national polling numbers in the short term.
- At the exact same time, Buttigieg was on every cable show that would have him and became an instant media darling. The media liked the deference and access Buttigieg was giving him while they loathed that Beto was trying to circumvent them, so the media began taking on a hostile tone with Beto.
- When Beto began doing a few national interviews, they were a bit shaky. His penchant for speaking in anecdotes and personal stories didn't always play well in interviews and it came off at times as evasive or canned when he'd get lost in the anecdotes and forget to answer the initial question.
- Castro has a Texas feud with him, so he used Beto for target practice in the first debate, which just fed the perception that Beto was weak.
Beto had a rough start, some self-inflicted, some external factors. He began hitting his stride in the mid-summer when he became Beto Unleashed, but the field was just too crowded at that point. Warren was hitting her stride and Booty was quietly pivoting to the middle while both Biden and Sanders maintained their support. There just wasn't enough oxygen. Having gigantic debates certainly didn't help Beto or Kamala because they could never clearly make contrasts with the other frontrunners.
Look at Klob. Klob had way worse poll numbers than both Kamala and Beto the entire time those two were in the race. But as soon as the field started to thin out and the debate stage got smaller, Klob was able to contrast herself with the other frontrunners and was able to gain traction. I honestly believe if either Beto or Harris hung around long enough like Klob, they would have gotten a second look and potential surge. I saw an interview with Harris during the impeachment trial and you can tell she's kicking herself for dropping out.
