What little drama could have been anticipated at the Democratic National Convention has been largely flattened by Democrats ‘ news that President Joe Biden will get their nominee for president.
Biden easily collected the delegates needed to become the group’s standard carrier by March, but the prospect of a shock challenge and perhaps a sponsored convention when the party convenes in Chicago in August was left empty due to his continued opposition to his candidacy for general election.
The Democratic National Committee decided on Tuesday to nearly nominate Biden in the coming weeks to ensure that he is registered in Ohio, a state with a two-week filing deadline, but the result is that the event will now be entirely symbolic.
In the days leading up to the DNC news, Democrats had shrugged off the possibility of a sponsored agreement. In most swing-state elections, the senator trails former president Donald Trump, partially due to concerns about his age and a partisan support gap left by progressive voters unhappy with his management of the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
” No, no. No one is discussing President Biden’s possible emergency ideas, according to previous House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). ” President Biden is going to be our nominee”.
” That’s ridiculous”, Sen. John Fetterman ( D- PA ) said of the notion that Biden could be replaced.
That does not mean gathering officials are not concerned with his election leads, yet. With only five months until Election Day, there are reports of a behind-the-scenes Democrat “freakout” as studies continue to show Trump’s support growing.
In the meantime, there are the possibility of significant protests at the agreement in connection with the Israel-Hamas issue, which have plagued Biden almost everywhere he goes since the terrorist attacks of October 7.
If Biden, who has sided with Israel despite drawing red lines about its planned invasion of Rafah, does n’t make a significant change in his attitude toward the conflict, those are likely to occur in some way. The only thing left to wonder is how big and intense they are.
The DNC’s decision to select Biden through a digital roll call has drawn criticism. A time for doing so has not been announced, but it must appear sometime before Aug. 7.
It was a “gutless” move, according to Jeffrey McCall, a professor of communications and media critic at DePauw University, meant to” protect the president from attention and to try to protect him from misstatements.”
” It’s likewise a clear try to undermine public attention from potential protesters and demonstrators”, he added. ” In that perception, this phase comes off as somewhat undemocratic”.
However, as pundits float names from Vice President Kamala Harris to Governor, party officials claim there is n’t a real alternative for Biden. Gavin Newsom ( D- CA ) to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ( D- MI ).
Rep. Ro Khanna ( D- CA ), a liberal substitute for Biden, said the leader remains the best- positioned Democrat to beat Trump.
” The group is going to be unified around him”, Khanna said. ” He’s their candidate. He’s got the best picture. He has a better chance than any other person that the pundits are circulating who do n’t have that brand, name ID, and record as him.
” There is no one else who would have a better chance if Michelle Obama were to run,” he continued.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI ), a congressman who will retire from his Michigan seat at the end of the year, noted that it was long past the deadline to nominate anyone other than Biden.
” We’re way past that point”, he told the Washington Examiner. ” Even though by 20th- era requirements, we’re at the beginning of the battle, by 21st- era standards, we’re in the middle of the plan. So, I do n’t think that ‘s]going to happen], and I’m not advocating for it, either”.
The next day Democrats voted by delegates who were not previously bound during a convention to choose a running partner for the vice presidential election was almost 70 years ago. Sen. Estes Kefauver defeated second-place John F. Kennedy for the position, and the walk was intended to generate buzz for the seat.
Gerald Ford just defeated Ronald Reagan at the last protocol for either group to nominate a severely contested presidential candidate in 1976.
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The biggest problem for Biden, according to Democratic strategist Brad Bannon, may be creating crisis, no avoiding it. A-list celebrities and speakers will help the occasion “pull out all the stops,” according to the party,” to preserve the convention interesting.”
” That would have been the case even if there had n’t been this virtual nomination process”, he said.
Mabinty Quarshie, Cami Mondeaux, David Sivak, and Marisa Schultz contributed to this account.
