The first presidential debate is done and the aftermath has not been good for the incumbent, Joe Biden.
Some Democrat politicians and operatives reportedly texted CNN commentators with hopes that Mr Biden, 81, would step aside. Some floated the possibility of going to the White House and publicly stating concerns about him remaining as candidate.
But if Mr Biden were to drop out, it would be a free-for-all. There is no official mechanism for him or anyone else in the party to choose his successor, meaning Democrats would be left with an open (Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago from August 19-22.
First of all the party doesn’t have to do anything. They literally make the rules of their nominating convention. So the idea that it would just be unfettered chaos is ridiculous.
With that idea firmly in place, yes it’s physically possible to replace him, until the nominating convention nominates him.
As to the idea that it must be an open convention instead of some kind of brokered convention, the earlier the democrats get on this and the more buy in they have from Biden, the more successful it will be. If they aren’t going to pull the trigger though you’ll never hear about anything because it could damage the campaign. So it’s a crossing the Rubicon moment the second they announce they’re going to do something other than nominate Biden.
first of all, some names that have been thrown around-
Newsom, high profile governor from taking runs at MAGA in the media. Was already raising his name recognition for a 2028 run. Whitmer, governor of a key state, bullet bump from the kidnap attempt Pritzker, governor of a key state Shapiro, governor of a key state
Obviously some other people are getting their names thrown around, but the party is not going to take any extra risk in a time like this. So the replacement would very likely be straight, white, male, and photogenic. I wish we lived in a world where that wasn’t true, but they’re trying to reach for every single vote they can and they cannot afford racism or misogyny to pull anything.
Bernie, I love him but we’re not exactly going to say Biden is too old and then nominate Bernie.
How the party does this would also have an effect. If they make it an inclusive process, debates with a caucus or comment period before allowing only the top two or three (according to polls and comments) to go into the convention then they can avoid a lot of the anger over appearing to just throw Biden away. The elephant in the room here is they did not have an actual primary this year. One man’s name on the ballot is not an election. So they’d need to have that sort of atmosphere, but in just the few weeks before the convention. If they don’t try to include their voters then this would fail.
Over all there’s a lot to be said for sticking with the guy versus taking a path with so many failure points. If they approach a candidate and that candidate leaks the plan, they’re worse off than before. If they don’t make the voters feel included they fail. If they allow the convention to become a chaotic mess they fail. If they can’t get Biden to endorse the replacement they fail. If they choose wrong with the abbreviated vetting period and we get another October surprise then they fail. And there’s always the chance that they sustain too much damage even though they do everything right and fail anyways.
But yeah, it’s possible, it doesn’t have to be chaos, and there are people who can step in.
Yeah, Newsom and Whtmer, no one else has the name recognition …… but half the country will reflexively vote against California
If they go hard and use their entire war chest then name recognition won’t be an issue as long as the person has a good starting position.
I think the most concerning thing. Is that its so clear with bidens age decline. We have seen this before. FDR, the later term of Ronald Reagan, Dianne feinstein. Its not ok to put up figure head leaders who are just puppets of their cabinets. All the blatantly undemocratic behavior from trying to sue RFK Jr off the ballot, canceling the primaries, trying to block a debate from every having happened in the first place.
I think Donald Trump was wrong about the whole stolen election. BUT. Watching this election cycle one thing is very clear. There is no integrity left in american elections. Our democratic process has already degraded to banana republic. I cannot in good conscience vote for a senile puppet and I cannot vote for a man who is clearly acriminall, not an exemplary american leader, and not a good statesman. There is no lesser of two evils. There are other options and people being unwilling to believe that there are other options is the only reason we are stuck with this bullshit.
I truly believe Robert F Kennedy junior oa the only sensible choice for president in today’s political climate.
I don’t agree about RFK but I do agree that our democracy is clearly very damaged.