No. of Recommendations: 6
And that, my friend, is why this idea of Biden stepping aside is irrational. It will lead to an open convention that will damage the entire party, including the down ballot races.
The latter being true doesn't make the former true. An open convention might indeed be very damaging to the party....and still might be better than proceeding with Biden.
There are no good options for Democrats. There may no longer be any winning options for Democrats. The fact that one option is terrible doesn't necessarily mean that another option is therefore the better choice, because the Democrats are going to have to pick a terrible option.
Right now, the best option may be for Biden to step aside in favor of a full-throated coronation of Harris if he gets commitments from the other potential major options (Newsom, Whitmer, etc.) that they won't challenge her. It may be that sticking with Biden is better than a fully-open convention - Democrats would still lose but might salvage some down-ballot races - but I'm not sure it's better than giving Harris at least a chance to win this thing. And sparing every single down-ballot Democrat the problem of having to defend the party's choice of a senescent nominee, undermining the effectiveness of downballot candidates running against Trump.
Sticking with Biden, being honest about his shortcomings, but selling those as being far less of a problem that Trump's shortcomings at least gives a fighting chance.
No, it doesn't. There's no "selling" this. There's no more "fighting chance" for Biden. Biden was already losing to Trump in the national polls by a few points, and losing by more in the swing state polls. The entire theory of his candidacy is that he would be able to overcome voter doubts about his age over the course of the campaign. That's gone now. It won't show up as a sharp drop in the polls quickly - debates themselves just aren't that heavily watched. Instead, it will hit as a hard ceiling that prevents Biden from making up ground on Trump - and it will show up in the polls over time as Biden losing further ground as the attack ads scale up in the fall.
