Joe Biden was going nowhere in the 2008 presidential caucuses, but 400 Iowans showed up to hear him at the Ames Library, and you could see Biden take on hope, get amped and talkative. At past the 90-minute point, Jill Biden put a hand on her husband’s coat. It was time for Joe to go.
Pressure this time was neither quiet nor gentle. A pair of Democratic grandees – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – orchestrated calls for withdrawal from the outside and delivered the message in person: You can’t win.
The operation was efficient, ruthless, and necessary. Turning out the lights on an unpopular or fading lingering leader is a feature of Britain’s Conservative Party, witness the deposing of Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in 2022. A head transplant can lead to disaster – British voters booted out the Tories two weeks ago – but can also be a vehicle for holding power. The party won an election after jettisoning long-serving PM Margaret Thatcher.
Can the operation succeed here? Joe Biden is a sensitive, tenacious guy. He has overcome the odds and adversity, dating from suppression of a childhood stutter. And he’s proud, witness constant use of the phrase “being a Biden.” He is still angry at being escorted out of the 2016 race by President Obama. Now, however, he has yielded. Is it too late?
Politicians’ tributes, regardless of party and circumstance, all taste the same – like Subway sandwiches. We saw one departure from the formula on Sunday. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, the moderate Democrat, candidly acknowledged Biden’s hopeless position. “My job is to represent everyone in Southwest Washington,” she said, “and most of them do not have confidence in the President’s fitness to serve. They deserve to have their confidence restored.”
Republicans have been chaotic rulers of the U.S. House of Representatives, but Biden’s presence atop the ticket was a major hindrance to Democrats’ prospects of flipping control. The relief of Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was palpable. She hailed Biden’s achievements but quickly added: “This fall, Democrats will take back the peoples’ House to build on his legacy and defend our rights, our freedoms, and our democracy for generations to come.”
With endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris piling up, it appears Democrats will have more a coronation than convention next month. The trick, in such circumstances, is to raise the party’s blood rather than seeing blood flow. Conventions can hobble nominees — witness Jimmy Carter after Ted Kennedy’s 1980 challenge, or Ronald Reagan upstaging Gerald Ford in 1976.
Harris was immediately endorsed by the Clintons, a little later by Biden, then by the Congressional Black Caucus, and later by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, presumed contenders. A notable exception, ex-President Barack Obama, who seemed to favor an open endorsement process.
Suzi LeVine, a former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and canny judge of political talent, says Harris is one to take on Donald Trump. “We have to first get through the process to gain a nominee – so I don’t want to be presumptive,” LeVine said in an email from the Mariners-Astros game. “But, yes, hypothetically, in a debate, VP Harris would use her prosecutorial skills to wipe the floor with Trump, particularly as it pertains to reproductive rights.”
Aside from such core groups as Black women, the Democrats’ “base” needs motivation to turn out. The votes of young people fueled congressional wins in 2018, Biden’s election in 2020, and an unexpected strong showing in 2022 mid-terms. Such was particularly true in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Washington Senate races, and in Pennsylvania and Michigan races.
Harris has been traveling college campuses and seeking women’s audiences, decrying the Dobbs decision in which the Supreme Court took away abortion rights. Such work is a key to holding the White House, said Democratic strategist Teresa Purcell, who managed Patty Murray’s first Senate campaign.
“To win, we need to engage the new electorate and have people who have not seen themselves as voters in the past inspired to participate,” observed Purcell. “If both parties just spend hundreds of millions on negative ads – people will not be inspired to participate and democracy will be lost. The election provides an opportunity to transform our politics in a great way – we just need to do it right. Kamala Harris – she’s with us.”
Republican politicians and the echo chamber of right-wing media had no charitable words. Typical in spouting the party line was Tiffany Smiley, challenger to Sen. Murray in 2022 now seeking a congressional seat in Central Washington. “Joe Biden is clearly not fit to lead our country and should resign,” she posted. “In November, the American people will remember Democrats’ extreme agenda and elect President Trump and J.D. Vance.”
A show horse member of the House, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, said she will introduce a resolution to have Vice President Harris and the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, declaring Biden incapable of exercising his duties as president. Mace is one of many in her party to go from Trump critic to Trump surrogate.
What a difference 72 hours have made in a democracy-defining election. Trump took the stage Thursday night as defiant survivor of an assassination attempt, christened with the newfound theme of unifier. Instead, TV viewers were treated to narcissism, self-absorption, grievance, and recycled sarcasm – in a speech that went on for an hour and 37 minutes.
Democrats were in despair, with defections from Biden and donors folding checkbooks. By Sunday, at least for the moment, spirits were restored. David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre, now heads Leaders We Deserve, a PAC that helps young Democratic candidates. Hogg immediately embraced Harris and set out to raise $200,000 to seed her campaign. He had taken in $250,000 by afternoon’s end.
“I’m feeling hope for the first time in a while,” Hogg posted. “All right, everyone, it’s time to get behind Kamala Harris and defeat this fascist felon.”
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Nice piece, Joel. According to ActBlue, Kamala Harris raised $27.5 million in the first 5 hours after Biden’s announcement.
“This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle,” a post from ActBlue on X said. “Small-dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election.”
I’m all for Harris, but if anybody thinks that she’s going to be an easy winner in a debate with Trump should reconsider.
He’s a bad man, but that doesn’t mean he’’s unskilled.
Suzi LeVine as a credible source? Really?
Yep, the same Suzi LeVine, who was head of the Employment Security Department during its period of massive fraud. A time during the pandemic when hackers stole the personal data of 1.4 MILLION laid-off Washingtonians who had who filed for unemployment.
Ms. LeVine, who without a trace of shame, then resigns and takes a plum job Joe Biden offered her as ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein.
Funny, how those laid-off workers faced severe consequences, lack of benefits when they were desperately needed, the loss of privacy and personal data….but Suzi LeVine lands gracefully on her feet, and gets quoted by journalists as a credible source.