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The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
Joe Biden’s team said on Friday the US president would press on with his re-election bid despite calls by top Democrats for him to bow out after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
A campaign staffer said Biden was still committed to a second debate on September 10 with Trump, hours after the 81-year-old president’s stumbling performance on Thursday reignited concerns about his age and fitness for office.
The Biden team said that Thursday was the US president’s best day of grassroots, or small-dollar, fundraising since the start of his campaign, and circulated a memo arguing that he had “won” the debate by persuading independent and undecided voters.
A spokesperson on Friday said Biden was now “riding the momentum” of his “decisive win” in Thursday’s debate as he headed to a rally in North Carolina.
The campaign later said Biden had raised $14mn on Thursday and Friday morning, and that the hour after the debate on Thursday night was the single best hour of fundraising since the president launched his re-election bid.
But top Democratic lawmakers, donors and party insiders remained rattled by the president’s debate performance, in which Biden frequently stumbled over his words, gave rambling answers and in some instances appeared to lose his train of thought.
The debate was seen as a crucial opportunity for Biden to turn around his faltering re-election campaign, which has been weighed down by concerns about his age and the cost of living.
On Friday, RealClearPolitics put the odds of a Trump victory in the presidential election at 54.8 per cent, compared with 19.2 per cent for Biden.
It also listed the odds of a win for California governor Gavin Newsom at 10.8 per cent, and put vice-president Kamala Harris at 4.5 per cent.
One Democratic party insider said after the debate that there was a “higher level of panic than I’ve seen or thought possible”.
“He confirmed our worst fears,” said another.
A Democratic lawmaker said Biden’s performance had sparked extensive panic on Capitol Hill.
“Many House Democrats tonight, representing a wide cross-section of the Democratic caucus, were privately texting one another that Biden needs to announce he’s decided not to run for re-election. We need a new nominee,” the lawmaker said.
Biden himself brushed aside questions about his candidacy late on Thursday at an impromptu stop at a Waffle House restaurant in Atlanta, saying: “I think we did well.”
Asked about calls for him to drop out of the race and whether he had any concerns about his debate performance, Biden replied: “No. It’s hard to debate a liar.”
But by Friday morning, the calls for Biden to step aside had only grown louder.
“When I last saw him he wasn’t great but definitely more coherent than in [the] debate,” one big-dollar Wall Street donor said. “I’m not sure there is an alternative at the moment but if there ever was a chance to change things up it’s now.”
Biden is set to hold a rally on Friday in North Carolina, a state that Trump won four years ago but which Democrats maintain they can take back this November.
The president is later due to meet behind closed doors with donors at several fundraisers, including a campaign event on Friday night in Manhattan and two on Saturday in the Hamptons and New Jersey.
Trump is set to hold his own rally on Friday afternoon in Virginia, a state he lost to Biden by 10 points in 2020 but where the latest opinion polls show the two men in a statistical tie.
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