Brianna Chesser: Whitmer and Newsom would absolutely be destroyed. Right wingers tried to kidnap her, and Gavin is Gavin. And on our side, there’s “I’d vote for a woman, just not THAT woman.” Beyond that, mail & early voting starts in ≤ 85 days in ME & IL, and 100 in most other states.

bouie is literally the only person on the NYT board who is behaving and responding to the debate like a professional that has followed and covered a presidential election. i mean that seriously, i'm not being snarky.

if you actually get *paid* to write about politics for a living, screaming that the nominee has to drop out after one bad debate *in june* (and one in which the challenger did not do well, either), you are unqualified for your job and your salary

He had freaks melting down in his replies simply from asking “why wouldn’t it be Kamala then?”

Because she polls even worse than Biden. Do you want to win or be politically correct?

Biden steps down. Harris is muscled aside in favor of Andy Beshear. Jim Clyburn and other high ranking blacl Democrats says “wait a sec, why are we elevating Harris?” what happens next?

“buh you just love identity politics” doesn’t get around the fact that parties are coalitions, Harris has a real and influential constituency, and ignoring it could prove a problem.

(also, no real evidence that a non-Harris Democrat would not also be saddled by the unpopularity of the Biden administration)

I’m torn on this question and think you’re making a compelling serious argument. But I will say the one bit of evidence we *do* have that a non Biden D would not be saddled with the unpopularity is that D’s are polling like 5-7 points ahead of Biden in basically every statewide race.

But isn’t that an unfair comparison, since they don’t have the MSM or Republican $ gunning for them the same way they are Biden? All Democratic politicians start to lose popularity when they become the main grist in the conservative/MSM mill.

Well put, I've been trying to say something similar all day. And I think the right wing media spotlight is an important factor. And I'm pretty sure Fox producers have lines of attack ready to be deployed on people like Whitmer and Newsom.

Whitmer and Newsom would absolutely be destroyed. Right wingers tried to kidnap her, and Gavin is Gavin. And on our side, there’s “I’d vote for a woman, just not THAT woman.” Beyond that, mail & early voting starts in ≤ 85 days in ME & IL, and 100 in most other states.

There’s a genuine ballot access issue, and saying that there will be a contested convention is a terrible idea, and luckily, wishcasting. The delegates are committed to Biden and a Biden surrogate will nominate him. This isn’t a mystery. It’s how modern day political conventions work.

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