The narrative this week HAS been polls showing the standing President slightly ahead of a ex-President that has been arrested FOUR Times…..
THAT means media AND others ARE thinking about what would happen if Joe Biden decided to NOT seek a 2nd term or was physically unable to….
Lets understand….
Joseph R. Biden IS on record as saying he’s GOING for a second term of four years….
He DID beat the leading opponent against him last time….
BUT?
Biden has NOT stepped into the campaign mode , while Trump IS plastered ALL over the media almost everyday….
(Biden & Co. ARE out with 2 campaign ads in the last few days)
THAT has people exploring possible choices for Democrats should a Biden replacement is needed….
The TWO top tier names ARE Vice President Kamala Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom….
By all appearances, Mr. Newsom is a man with an eye on the White House, building a national network of supporters and accumulating the kind of good will among donors, party operatives and voters that could prove critical should he decide to move beyond Sacramento. Mr. Newsom said in an interview that he was not running for president, and that the time has come for Democrats to rally around President Biden.
“The train has left the station,” Mr. Newsom said. “We’re all in. Stop talking. He’s not going anywhere. It’s time for all of us to get on the train and buck up.”
But it may be difficult for Mr. Newsom to quiet speculation about his own future. He has spent months positioning himself as one of his party’s leading voices during a time of deep Democratic worry and lingering unease about the political strengths of Mr. Biden, who is 80, and his vice president, Kamala Harris.
A CNN poll released on Thursday found that 73 percent of all respondents were “seriously concerned” that the president’s age might affect his mental and physical competence. Some 67 percent of Democrats said the party should nominate someone else.
Mr. Newsom has, by his account, sought to reassure the White House in both public and private that he is no threat to Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign. And in turn, Mr. Biden’s team has appeared to pull him closer. The governor will be a top Democratic surrogate defending Mr. Biden when Republican candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library later this month.
This dance — of raising one’s profile without undercutting the president — is the challenge for a class of Democrats-in-waiting, which also includes Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. But Mr. Newsom, a 55-year-old telegenic, popular-in-his-own-state leader, has made himself the most visible in this group, and he may serve as a reminder of Mr. Biden’s shortcoming as he seeks re-election.
“He’s got to be careful about it,” Joel Benenson, a pollster who advised Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, said of Mr. Newsom’s effort to raise his profile. “You don’t want to be too cute by half. If you are going to run, do it. If not, go out there and make the connections and talk to Democrats, learn about these states. The worst mistake would be the way to do it and seem sly about doing it.”….
Another look at the top and second tier of Democratic possible sweepstakes contestents if needed…
A CNN/SSRS poll released this week showed just 39 percent of adults approving of Biden’s job performance, his lowest number in more than a year.
Almost three-quarters of the population, according to the poll, believes Biden lacks the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president.
Even among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 67 percent asserted the party should choose someone else as its standard-bearer in the 2024 election.
Despite all that, most Democrats believe Biden, 80, will indeed be the party’s nominee in the next election.
It is extremely difficult to defeat an incumbent president in a primary, and the president’s two declared opponents, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, are going nowhere fast.
Even so, plenty of Democrats are at least daydreaming of alternatives, just in case Biden would decide to step aside or circumstances would change unexpectedly….
top image….Dog Millis/NY Times
bottom image….The Hill
These polling numbers showing a large number of Democrats don’t want Biden to run again is very concerning .
As is the fact that leading Democrats are simply ignoring it.
Eisenhower (born 14 Oct. 1890) was 66 years old when re-inaugurated on 20 Jan. 1957 and 70 he gave way to the 43-year-old JFK, (born 25 May 1917 … “Let the torch be passed…to a new generation”)
Reagan (born 6 Feb. 1911), was just shy of 74 when re-inaugurated in January, 1985 (and already in mental decline).
The Democrats tried to use age against both of them in their re-election campaigns, and clearly failed both times. (“I will not let my opponent’s youth and inexperience…”)
Should have added that Reagan was just shy of 78 when giving way to the 46-year-old Bill Clinton (born in 1946).
Reagan was mostly out of it at the end of his term in office as I remember
Handed it of to the youthful by comparison 64 year old George HW Bush, who four years later handed it off to Clinton.
Pelosi and others ARE OLDER than Biden….
And the age thing IS dismissed by Congressional law makers who control their own jobs….
I think they feel like WE do that Biden WOULD and WILL WIN against Trump in the end……
But IT IS disconcerting to deal with the polling and the CNN lead on their poll result…
Again?
I KNOW Joe thinks Trump IS digging himself in his own defeat….
But?
Bidewn IS being defined right now as a BIG FUCKING QUESTION MARK in the media….
NOT a good look….
Remember John McCormack? Remember Carl Hayden?
Remember Carl Albert? Remember Strom Thurmond?
Remember Jim Bunning?
Robert Byrd, Dan Inouye, Chuck Grassley, Dianne Feinstein.
The old timer club!
One of them guys was a pitcher!
Let’s take the age thing off the table entirely by speculating that Jimmy Carter leaves hospice and primaries Biden. You think Biden is old, Carter Mach II would be 100 upon re-entering office. Or how about 90 year old Michael Dukakis? 85 year old Jim Clyburn? Put up the kind of Primary candidate Biden would benefit in comparison to, age wise at least.
I may joke around about Biden negotiating Lee’s surrender to Grant, but the age talk gets ridiculous past a certain point.
I agree SE……..
The GOPer’s have their own including Donald J. Trump…….
Call it what you want.
When well over half of the members of your own party think you’re too old to be that party’s presidential candidate ?
There’s nothing “ ridiculous “ about that.
When push comes to shove?
Biden will get the votes he needs from his party supporters just like in 2020…..
The current media beating he’s getting is a warning to him to get his stuff together
Please don’t say that,
We all know that your “ predictions “ usually turn out wrong!