General Discussion

I am deeply saddened by what has happened to Biden the last three or so years - both with his stature leading the party and the attacks he's gone through. But I'm also saddened by his own hubris and the fact he refused to run the campaign we needed him to run. In March, 2023, I met with the local parties out west to discuss the upcoming campaign. Biden was almost certainly going to run for reelection, tho he hadn't announced yet (he'd announce a month later). A person from his pending campaign team met with us to map out western swing states (specifically Nevada and Arizona) and at the end, we had a Q&A sess about the pending campaign.

My only question (more a comment) was to get reassurance about the campaign they were planning to run because even then, I knew the age issue was problematic for Biden. I saw it in the polling my state party commissioned for Nevada Democrats and it didn't feel like the White House had properly addressed those concerns.

So, I put it like this to the campaign: as someone on the front lines of data collection for state parties, the biggest vulnerability we're seeing with Biden right now is his age. Can the campaign promise that Biden will run an aggressive, spirited campaign that gets him out in front of voters?

I was told that was their plan.

That plan never materialized.

Biden's campaign moved away from an active, aggressive campaign and opted to run a small campaign instead.

He needed to show had the stamina for the job and you don't do that by holding small retail events.

Biden's campaign only changed after the debate. It was at that point they knew they were in trouble and needed to lean into the aggressive campaign style they should have been doing from the start. It would have helped shut the media up about his age and shown the American people he was competent enough to lead. But that didn't happen. Biden remained largely off the campaign trail through spring and summer, rarely did interviews and held zero town halls - until that debate. But by that point, it was too late. You weren't going to unring that bell. It just validated every concern Americans had about Biden and his age and his ability to effectively lead this country. Fair or not. And if politics is one thing, it's that it's unfair.

As for who would have done better than Biden? Campaign-wise? I think Harris was better than Biden. Had Biden remained in the race, he would have lost by a similar margin as McCain in 2008. It would have been a blowout. Harris lost - but she kept it close and that helped Democrats win senate seats in Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin, seats they probably would have lost had Biden been the nominee.