Consensus strengthens around Kamala Harris
No one knows exactly what the process for selecting a new Democratic presidential candidate will be like if Joe Biden does drop out of the race, but many Democrats say that any process will most likely quickly end with the nomination of current Vice President Kamala Harris.
Informal conversations about how the race to replace Biden at the top of the list will play out , have been going on behind the scenes for several weeks, CNN notes.
But the uncertainty surrounding the process was so unclear that it forced many Democrats – even those who have serious concerns about Biden – think about opposing the president's candidacy, given that what comes next could be even more confusing.
«Damn, I'm covered in coconut. I just want this to stop,” said one prominent Democratic Party figure, referring to an online meme that originated from an old video of the vice president telling a story about his mother saying, “You think you are.” just fell from a coconut tree?”
It's not that everyone has suddenly united, but fatigue is turning into consensus, CNN notes.
Domestic polling suggests Harris would at least be more useful in boosting Democratic enthusiasm and slowing the pace voting. Arguments in favor of the fact that she would be the fastest to organize an election campaign are becoming increasingly weighty. Dreams that she will speak out more forcefully and forcefully against Donald Trump are taking root.
Many have deliberately refrained from talking about hypotheticals as Biden aides say he plans to return to the campaign trail next week once he recovers from Covid-19. But if the situation suddenly changes, two dozen leading Democratic politicians told CNN, they can't realistically imagine it ending any differently.
Some are pushing for a quick, closed process where delegates would approve the swap. opinions as part of the planned virtual nomination plan ahead of the convention.
But – While there has been speculation about a quick series of blitz primaries or municipal elections, no one can agree on how that would work, given that the election is just over 100 days away and the scheduled Democratic convention in Chicago much less. Still it's an idea that some Harris supporters support, doubting anyone serious will challenge her despite so much chest puffing behind the scenes.
Several Democratic members of Congress who had called for Biden to step down declined Friday when CNN asked if they were willing to say they wanted Harris to be the nominee.
At the very least, admit people associated with several other possible most serious options and others, they are likely to feel backed into a corner by both loyalty to the party and their own ambitions for the future. After the last month of infighting, it will be very difficult to unite, and anyone who opposes her risks damaging their reputation on the team in the potential 2028 Open primaries if she is seen as weakened by this and loses.
Some Democrats believe that, even with the threat of early voting, the issue could be resolved during the convention in late August. However, many Democrats predict that if it drags on for so long, the thirst for a settlement will only intensify.
These politicians and operatives say that's becoming increasingly likely both because of how close they are to Election Day and how impressed they have been with how the vice president has handled these weeks of democratic crisis. They say the vice president has not been caught scheming, even in private, and has instead demonstrated her passion and loyalty to Biden during a series of campaign appearances that will continue Saturday at a benefit she is hosting in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
“I really think it should be the vice president. She has been actively campaigning while in office and is the natural successor. «If the president is not the nominee, it is important that we rally behind her immediately,» said one Democratic House member, who asked not to be identified to avoid being seen as undermining the president.< /p>
Few people can imagine that Biden will leave and not invite his partner to take over the presidency. To do otherwise would be a terrible insult to her, like the one that hurt Biden himself when Barack Obama turned to Hillary Clinton instead of him before the 2016 election. He would also have betrayed his own judgment by choosing her four years ago as ready for the job, which he confirmed at his press conference last week.
Eleni Kounalakis, California's lieutenant governor and Democratic National Convention delegate who sits on the Rules Committee and is also an old friend of Harris's, said if the president resigns it is important to remember that he won the Democratic primary.
< p>«When people voted for him as a candidate, they voted for that ticket, so the only conclusion left is that the best way to validate the primary vote is to support the vice president as our candidate,» she said. “We have so much respect for President Biden that if he had asked delegates to support her, even in the face of public media chaos, I think most delegates would have respected his wishes as the person chosen in the primary vote and as ours.” president”.
Such thoughts also cause a negative response, CNN notes.
“I think the Democratic Party leaders know better than anyone the power of stability. When chaos occurs, they are the ones who suffer the consequences,” a frontline Democratic aide told CNN. ”The Democratic Party leaders are like the stock market.”Democratic politicians and senior aides in national politics fear that launching an open process at the convention would lead to confusion, prolong party drama and weaken support for the powerful Congressional Black Caucus that was expected to galvanize grassroots support and enthusiasm in November.
Even some members of the Democratic Party running for re-election in the "swing" constituencies also see little benefit in the party spending a week in the country to battle test the party's new face, and it assumes anyone would be willing to oppose Harris at all, risking their own political future if they fail now.
“The infighting is killing us. There’s no world in which you can push Kamala aside,” one Democratic official told CNN on condition of anonymity, discussing the difficult political moment Democrats find themselves in.
People who have long disliked Harris haven’t suddenly changed their minds. She hasn’t developed amnesia about her past weaknesses or problems. That was part of the calculation Biden was making himself as he considered what to do.
Texas Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who is running for re-election in a tight race, told CNN he was surprised by how quickly the conversation moved from just a few months ago people saying Harris would be a liability to Biden might consider about its replacement.
«I just don't understand how we went from that to the idea that she should top the list,» Gonzalez said. — I have nothing against her, but facts are facts. Not everything has changed, right? How did we get from this to this? I mean, nowhere else in the world except this city, right?"
Republican operatives tell CNN they are salivating — not just from watching old attacks and videos of her verbal responses, but and from the fact that they ask her again and again about what she knew and when she knew about Biden's health and the consequences of aging. They will push for Biden's resignation to create more chaos and further throw her off the trail.
They will also question not only the legality of her participation in whatever fast-track process is chosen, but also whether she can legally be replaced at the ballot box. House Speaker Mike Johnson's comment in an interview this week that «some preliminary studies are being done» is gaining traction, expressing real concerns that access to the ballot could be disrupted if Democrats nominate an entirely new candidate who will become the winner of the agreed congress.
And as early as 2020, when Biden put Harris on the ballot, some went beyond deliberately mispronouncing her name to threatening lawsuits over whether she was constitutionally qualified to hold office, using the flawed argument that neither of her parents were born in America.
Meanwhile, some progressives behind the scenes said they believe Biden is more in line with their agenda than Harris – and that's one of the reasons why so many people support him.
“To some extent, she is now casting for the presidency,” said Ashley Etienne, her former communications director and longtime assistant at Hill, who still maintains contact with many current members. “She is well positioned to build confidence in Joe Biden and convince people that she is ready. She needs to do this more thoroughly. The campaign should create opportunities for her to do that.
Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat who has said he doesn't think he can vote for president, believes the decision to go to Harris quite logical. “I think many Americans believe there is a very high probability that if a Biden-Harris wins, Kamala will win a second term,” Golden said. “So, the question may arise: why not just resolve this issue in this election?”
Свежие комментарии