# President Biden Dropping Out of Race **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** kamala-harris\ **Created:** [July 21, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540 "2024-07-21T18:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/121 "2024-07-21T20:28:15Z")
She better come out like a house on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/122 "2024-07-21T20:33:10Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Unfortunately if they bypass Harris due to her race, the African American vote will be pissed off (and rightly so). So as usual the Dems are in a a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation. The big problem with being a party that relies on a big tent rather than a core group. Don’t get me wrong, I agree bypassing Harris would be a bad move. It’s just that I expect the election to be very close. The fact that Trump is a viable candidate at all has me worried. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/123 "2024-07-21T20:38:28Z")
At last the circular firing squad that is the Democratic Party can lower their guns and get down to business. I’m hoping this will inject a new level of excitement in the campaign, replacing the oh-dear-oh-dear-what-are-we-going-to-do attitude that has been dogging us for the last several weeks. I feel better already. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/124 "2024-07-21T20:45:54Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But she may have a better chance now. --If she runs a good campaign\*, and if she manages to make clear , believable statements about her policies so that people feel they can trust her. Well, that’s part of the problem. I’ve watched a lot of speeches that Harris has given over the past few years, and critics are right that she can use a lot of flowery language to say absolutely nothing of substance or that gives any clear notion of her positions. On paper she should be a brilliant candidate with broad appeal but that just didn’t manifest as reality in her previous campaign. It’s problematic and I hope she gets and uses a stable of good speechwriters because for a former prosecutor she is shockingly bad at speaking off the cuff. Hopefully, the Democratic puts all resources at her disposal, and more hopefully that she uses them better than she has in the past and doesn’t alienate a bunch of senior staff. > [@Skypist](#): > > And trump will tear her apart. I don’t think he has to, or even should. Without going into details, I’ll just note that in the 2016 election the opposing candidate’s poll numbers reliably went up every time Trump went on the attack, presumably because it made her look more sympathetic and competent. Trump’s best strategy would be to just keep touting his own horn, playing up his would-be status as a demagogue that his supporters seem to want, and treating Harris as an inconsequential challenger. He won’t because he can’t help himself, and Harris should do everything she can into goading him into bad behavior because even though that sells to his base it alienates independent voters. But Harris also needs to develop a clear character to her candidacy and what she is going to do to help average lower and middle class Americans (who, despite all of the supposedly positive economic indicators, are still struggling), and not engage with the culture wars nonsense, or get wrapped up in Trump’s inane pettifogging, or get lost in an abstruse explanation of poorly thought out policy positions. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/125 "2024-07-21T20:46:16Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > I hope the whiners are happy now. Now if Harris is the nominee and doesn’t win, all the hindsighters will go on and on about how she lost because she wasn’t a good candidate blah blah blah. And trump will tear her apart. At worst, a Harris defeat would be less humiliating than a Biden defeat. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/126 "2024-07-21T20:52:34Z")
Yep. Hahaha, feels good! ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/127 "2024-07-21T20:58:04Z")
Absolutely. Well said! ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/128 "2024-07-21T21:01:33Z")
Excuse me if my questions sound dumb, but what about the money? Is the campaign founds linked to specifically Joe Biden? or to any democrat candidate? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/129 "2024-07-21T21:01:57Z")
It’s linked to both Biden and Harris, so she can keep the money. And she’s the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Win\_Place\_Show](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/win_place_show/32/13469_2.png) [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/130 "2024-07-21T21:03:42Z")
Yeah, take this for what it’s worth but I think iiandyiii is correct. “Campaign finance law experts have told NBC News that it is likely that Biden’s campaign war chest could be transferred to Harris because she was his running mate. Any other candidate would likely have to raise new money for his or her campaign.” > **[With Biden's backing, Kamala Harris leads the pack in bid to replace him on...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/bidens-backing-kamala-harris-leads-pack-bid-replace-ticket-rcna160256)** > > Biden announced he would not accept the nomination of his party and moments later that he supports Harris taking his place. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/131 "2024-07-21T21:06:25Z")
It’s likely but it’s also untested. There are certain to be lawsuits if Harris assumes control of the Presidential campaign account. ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/132 "2024-07-21T21:07:36Z")
Thanks for the answers, guys ! So if the convention doesn’t endorse Kamala Harris, what happen to the money already raised but not spent? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/133 "2024-07-21T21:08:32Z")
It would have to be returned to donors, or could be transferred to the DNC. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/134 "2024-07-21T21:09:15Z")
The latter is the likeliest. ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/135 "2024-07-21T21:11:08Z")
DNC = Democrats National Committee? ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/136 "2024-07-21T21:11:26Z")
Not an ideal solution, though. There are limits on how the DNC can use campaign contributions to coordinate with the Presidential campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/137 "2024-07-21T21:11:26Z")
Democratic National Committee. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/138 "2024-07-21T21:12:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > At worst, a Harris defeat would be less humiliating than a Biden defeat. At that point, “less humiliating” should be the least of anyones’ concern. A hypothetical second Trump administration will doubtlessly accelerate the United States descent into authoritarianism. Even if Harris isn’t the best possible candidate, the Democrats should do their best to build her up into that role because the alternative is too dire to be conceived. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/139 "2024-07-21T21:13:28Z")
The networks must have been confident this was going to happen today. They’re broadcasting as if they had a planned presentation ready to go. One thing I found interest was that the Democratic party was not going to have a regular convention but would have a truncated process to pick a candidate. I’m not sure who made that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540/140 "2024-07-21T21:14:54Z")
Well he endorsed her in the text message I got. It also says in the OP he endorsed her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-biden-dropping-out-of-race/1004540.md?page=8)