WTF’: Panicked Dems start looking for alternatives to Biden
Three strategists close to three potential Democratic presidential candidates said they were bombarded with text messages.
“He will do it again,” the adviser said. “Donald Trump did not give voters any reason to vote for him tonight. On the issues, the American people are with Joe Biden.”
Asked if Biden would be dropping out, one campaign aide said “of course not.” The aide said the hour just after the debate — from 11 p.m. to midnight — was the campaign’s strongest hour of grassroots fundraising since it launched.
In a statement, Biden’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Biden “presented a positive and winning vision for the future of America,” while Trump “offered a dark and backwards window into what America will look like if he steps foot back in the White House.”
Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic consultant, said, “President Biden is the Democratic nominee and that’s not changing because of one debate performance.”
She said, “We need to calm down and stay focused because Donald Trump certainly didn’t gain any voters tonight.”
But for many Democrats on Thursday night, the view was far dimmer. One down-ballot statewide Democrat running for election said: “I mean, it’s not great all around. Our president has a speech impediment, a cold, and is 81.”
“No one expected a master class in debating from Joe Biden, but no one expected this nose dive,” said a senior adviser to top Democratic officials. “He was bad on message, bad on substance, bad on counter punching, bad on presentation, bad on non-verbals. There was no bright spot in this debate for him. The only bright spot is that this happened in June and not October.”