After some very rough going, Joe Biden has won his campaign. Not for a second term, but to stay as the Democratic nominee, after his universally panned debate outing. His terrible performance on stage, that he readily confessed to, brought out calls for him to quit the race; that his 81 years had gotten the better of him and he would lose in November to Donald Trump.
First there was one Democrat in the House who said it out loud that Biden should relinquish the nomination to another candidate (perhaps VP Kamala Harris?). Then a second. And a third. Who else would chime in? Would any senators join the chorus?
Each day and each hour the suspense built. Would the snowball sliding down the hill become an avalanche? No. Despite the buildup, now it is petering out. By yesterday, with Democrats back on Capitol Hill and meeting in person for the first time since the debate, Biden and his allies held. He went from wobbling to being endorsed.
The Stop Joe movement might revive itself should Biden suffer new gaffes and forgetfulness, but, for now, the hemorrhaging has been stemmed. The prior examples of his goofs and verbal stumbles have been re-aired and reexamined, giving ammo to the rebels, but the old war horse, who won his first Senate election at age 29 in 1972, still has the fight in him to hold off fellow Democrats.
There are still just seven House members who publicly say that they want him to quit. And more than 200 who aren’t saying that or are backing him.
Not among the seven Democratic dissenters is Dean Phillips. If you had forgotten, or never even knew, the Minnesota congressman actually launched his own presidential campaign against Biden eight months ago. His pitch: Biden has been a good president who has done good things, but he is too old and can’t defeatTrump. It may have been the right message for many in the party (albeit premature) but Phillips was not sellable as the alternative. The faithful rallied around Biden and Phillips was ignored, dropping out after getting creamed in the first few nominating contests.
As we said the day after the June 27 debate, the decision on Biden’s future would be solely up to Biden, and he has decided to stay. His speech last evening to the big NATO summit in Washington was watched closely for slip ups, but there were none. But there are still 118 more days until Election Day on Nov. 5. And every action and utterance will be microscopically studied.
Oh, about the other candidate, the very quiet Donald Trump. His sentencing for his 34 felony conviction to be held in a Manhattan courtroom, once set for tomorrow, has been pushed until September. What is happening is that the Republican convention starts on Monday in Milwaukee and by tradition Trump’s choice of veep will make his (it’s not likely to be a woman) own acceptance speech a week from today. Biden will probably relish letting Trump and his running mate have the spotlight for a bit.
When critics said that he was losing it, Biden fought hard and beat back the calls for his retirement. But that was only among his fellow Democrats. A far tougher challenge awaits him as we move towards the big finale in November.