Eva Longoria was a no-show in Phoenix, raising alarm bells for Team Biden

Don’t blame the Biden-Harris advance team.

They did their job so well publicizing Eva Longoria’s anticipated appearance in Phoenix that one British newspaper reported in a headline it had already happened.

“Eva Longoria endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign in Arizona ... after slamming Donald Trump.”

So screamed London’s Daily Mail.

Problem is the event never occurred. Longoria didn’t make it to Arizona on Monday. She didn’t endorse Biden that day, and she didn’t slam Trump.

Trump rallies thousands. Biden can't get 1

On Monday, the very day Biden’s “shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament” was supposed to appear in Phoenix, the news arrived that Longoria would not be here to rally Arizona Latinas against Trump.

The reason, according to campaign sources, is “unspecified travel issues.”

This presents a problem.

Stories in local and national newspapers had advanced the appearance of the TV and film star — from The Arizona Republic to USA Today to The Hill to London’s Daily Mail.

Then POOF! Longoria was gone.

Making matters delicate was the realization that only two days after Donald Trump had drawn 80,000 to 100,000 people to the Jersey shore to celebrate his campaign, Joe Biden couldn’t get one Hollywood celebrity to Phoenix to boost his.

Biden is fighting an enthusiasm gap

Who knows what happened.

Perhaps Longoria’s limo blew a flat on the way to LAX.

Perhaps her private jet blew a gasket.

Maybe her crew didn’t anticipate that there’s no direct route to get a yacht from Catalina to Central and Osborn.

All we know is that last week, Ma and Pa Kettle and the rest of The Deplorables packed up their jalopies and made it to Wildwood, N.J., with days to spare, camping out on the sand and waiting in line to watch Donald Trump dance with his hands.

That’s what you call an enthusiasm gap.

Eva Longoria also has a credibility gap

Pairing Biden with Longoria is genius.

How better to connect with the powerful and emerging Latino voting bloc than with the authentic voice of a Latino TV and movie star?

When she’s not learning to speak Spanish and planning to move to Spain, Longoria evangelizes for Joe Biden’s America, as she did with Barack Obama’s.

But there are complications. For instance, there’s also a credibility gap.

The last time Brand Biden intersected with Brand Longoria, it was last summer to screen Longoria’s directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” the story of how a Mexican American janitor working at Frito-Lay persuaded his bosses to add a little kick to Cheetos.

The problem is that the story was fake. The Los Angeles Times had published an exposé two years earlier revealing the ruse.

Not meant to be authentic? There's a theme

For years, Frito-Lay had let Richard Montañez run with his tall tale and later memoir and movie that he had invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Given what moms of all ethnicities think of Flamin’ Hot powder all over little hands and eventually carpets and chairs, Frito-Lay seemed happy to let the janitor take the blame.

Nonetheless, it created credibility issues for Biden and Longoria when they appeared on the White House lawn for the movie screening.

Media distorts Trump quote: And blatantly doesn't care

The press pushed back.

Two years earlier the LA Times had published its headline, “The man who didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

Now Longoria had done a film about the same man. What gives, said the media?

A White House official defended the decision to screen the film. It was not meant to be authentic, suggested the Biden apparatchik. It is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary.

Hmm.

The same could be said of Hollywood celebrities.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Eva Longoria was a no-show in Phoenix for Biden. That says a lot