Biden does hold the cards on who would replace him. Pure speculation, but he very well could be saying I won’t drop out unless you support Harris/it’s orderly. Until he gets enough support for that, his message, so as not to be bluffing about his replacement, is “I’m staying in”.
Could potentially get a third when she announces her VP pick.
Incumbency advantage isn’t really a thing in eras of intense polarization and hyper partisanship. Just ask Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, or Grover Cleveland again.
Oooooh, I like that. That sounds like something Joe would do. 
Given how many people have been expressing dissatisfaction with BOTH major party candidates I hold out hope that if the Dems get a younger, more energetic candidate nominated it could be what energizes the base.
I’m still concerned about certain demographic groups that have expressed continued support for Biden and called for him to stay in. If he steps aside it is going to have to be done carefully.
He is a good politician.
We can reasonably argue if Biden staying in or an orderly Harris replacement ticket is the best option. But a distant third is a chaotic replacement. Biden knows, and I would agree, him staying in is better than that chaotic option.
Mark Kelly fingers crossed
-Border state Senator, knows what’s going on there first-hand
-Navy vet
-Astronaut
-Congresswoman wife wounded by psycho gunman
-Looks like a fucking badass
-Moderate
-Polls five points higher than Biden does against Trump in key battleground states
-Purple stater, with a Dem governor picking his replacement
Kelly would be great. Or my favorite, Jamie Raskin. Articulate constitutional scholar who knows everything to punch Trump with.
By the way, my comments about Boomers and GenX caused me to look it up. And according to the Death Clocks (thanks to whomever mentioned that upthread) there are still more Boomers alive right now than GenX ever born.
That’s kind of amazing.
That’s why it was called a “baby boom”.
This was actually the James Carville plan, put forward a week or so ago. Let Bill Clinton and Barack Obama pick 8 or so candidates (including Harris). Organize a short series of town hall meetings of all 8, to put their policies before The American People. Then let the convention pick a winner.
Could be a beautiful thing. Could be utter madness.
My only fear of handing it to Harris is that she will be relentlessly bashed with her feckless role as “border czar”. There are advantages to giving the nod to someone with no baggage (like, Whitmer).
Whitmer has more than enough baggage for MAGAnuts to relentlessly attack her. After all she had very strict COVID policies and locked up a bunch of right-wing patriots for plotting to assassinate her.
Seriously, anyone the Democrats would put forward if Biden drops out will be subject to a barrage of stupid attacks from the right just for being Democrats. Harris is a good as any of the others and is better positioned.
It would be a couple months minimum with a bunch of candidates attacking each other instead of Trump, with one winner eventually stepping forward and a shitload of disgruntled voters stepping away from voting because their candidate didn’t come out on top.
And it would take far, far too long to get sorted out. If Biden were to step aside from the campaign, the new candidate would need to be settled on pretty much immediately – certainly before the DNC, which is in 4 1/2 weeks.
Everyone has baggage.
It has to be Harris or we have lost democracy.
I certainly wouldn’t want to vote for anyone who has never done anything the GOP could attack them for!
They could create a totally AI candidate and the Republicans would create dirt to throw.
I’m starting to like Kamala’s speeches. I would never have voted for her in the 2020 primaries when she was sort of vague as far as politics. I remember almost none of it. ( I would have voted for Klobuchar if she had lasted). But now with Trump as possible opponent she is getting some fire into her speeches. That is, if she is the candidate. This is not unusual. If you ARE pushed into a role, often you sound more convincing.
I’m no fan of Harris. She completely failed to impress me during the presidential race in 2016. BUT… she would be a good pick for many reasons.
The Biden presidency has so many accomplishments that haven’t really been accentuated properly. Why is Biden so very unpopular? The economy, jobs, the stock market, legislative wins… he has SO MUCH to brag about. Biden is many things, but eloquent isn’t one of them. Harris could really present the past accomplishments and future plans of the Democratic ticket with some clarity and flourish.
Attacking her might be hard, or at least make the attackers look a little bad to people who are still trying to decide on who to vote for. Can’t attack her for being too young, or too old, or too inexperienced. It would be foolish to attack her for being a woman or a minority for fear of alienating women and minorities. Of course her politics will be attacked, but any candidate would have that problem. The difference between her and Biden there is that she can return fire with panache. She can think on her feet and she is extremely intelligent. This is one arena where her abrasive personality would be an asset.
So much free publicity. The whole situation will suck all of the oxygen out of the air for weeks, if not months, with breathless punditry.
The appearance of continuity for the nervous and the appearance of fresh blood for the jaded.
She will retain the core Democratic voters that will vote for absolutely anyone running against trump and almost certainly gain a lot of fence sitters who would have stayed home rather than vote for Biden. To be fair, she might lose some who feel squicky about voting for a woman. But an overall gain, I believe.
I hate that it’s come to this. Biden has been a great president and is a wonderful man. Fairly or unfairly, he just doesn’t have the confidence of a large part the electorate any more. He needs to face that with as much grace as he is known to have and step aside so trump can be defeated.
Cite? With data? Because in congress there are a huge number of safe seats. The last Presidential incumbent who lost was Trump in 2020, but he’s an historically weird candidate.
Yes, and shit will be bad no matter what Democrat is running. It’s the era, not Biden.
Wilson is a legit counter-example. But frankly I think Biden would step aside if necessary. Hell, he might step aside even if it’s unnecessary.