The energetic New Castle County councilman was only 29 years old when he decided to challenge two-term U.S. senator and former two-term governor, Republican J. Caleb Boggs, for his Senate seat.
The young lawyer had a beautiful family and ran on a platform of “change,” while also questioning the incumbent’s age and fitness to continue to serve.
Admittedly, Boggs was an old-looking 63 when his opponent won an upset victory by just under 3,200 votes statewide. That young agent of change for Delaware was Democrat Joe Biden.
Biden would go on to serve seven terms in the U.S. Senate, running unsuccessfully for president twice before another young Senate colleague tapped him as his running mate after beating Biden in the 2008 presidential preference primaries. Young Barack Obama needed some grey hair on his ticket and a bit more Washington know-how ... so he, too, turned to Biden.
At his first U.S. Senate swearing-in, Joe Biden was 31, the seventh youngest American ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. Now, Biden is the oldest person ever to serve as president, with his opponent being the second oldest.
Our top four Golden Oldies in that office also include Ronald Wilson Reagan, and Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, who both left the White House just before turning 78.
The CNN presidential debate on Jun. 27 was, of course, damaging to the Biden campaign, while also like the unmasking at the end of every Scooby Doo cartoon. Not to make light of physical or mental decline, but perhaps more damaging in the days and weeks that followed was the repeated, steadfast denials of any problems with cognition, mental acuity, or even physical frailty.
The Emperor might still be wearing clothes, but apparently, he needs help dressing himself. Having met Biden in 1988 and again in 2008, I can attest, as many others have, that the Joe Biden of 2024 is not the same man. Thankfully, after hearing from many voices who still have President Biden’s ear, he has decided to hand off the campaign torch to focus on his remaining work as president through the end of this term.
Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement as the Democratic nominee after formally releasing his delegates, but that doesn’t mean Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee is a done deal.
President Biden, the Clintons, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other leading voices, including both of Georgia’s senators – Jon Osoff and Raphael Warnock, are endorsing Harris.
However, as of this writing, President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, as well as several leading party donors, are still on the fence and may seek an opportunity for others to throw their hat into this ring before or during the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.
In a poll preceding Biden’s departure from the race, the current vice president trailed Trump in Georgia, and Trump leads in almost every battleground state. Harris also has low approval ratings and some of the same demographic support weaknesses as President Biden among younger voters 18-35 and black men.
The party may need to streamline its progressive wish list and focus on core issues such as reproductive rights and other health care reforms, which the GOP has little answer to, to drive up turnout among the most loyal members of the Democratic Party base.
In the few weeks remaining before the Democratic Convention, Biden, Harris, and her supporters also have the advantage of Federal Campaign Election law at their backs. The $150 million in the 527 Super PAC supporting the Biden/Harris ticket, can continue to make non-coordinated expenditures supporting a Harris campaign.
Two new nominees make access to those funds more than a bit problematic. Nearly $100 million in donor pledges are currently on pause, awaiting a Biden exit.
With Joe Biden’s primetime perhaps behind him, Harris will need to rally dispirited donors and party activists, perhaps with a less ambitious agenda, and focus on turning out the base and the Democratic vote in battleground states.
Expect calls for Biden to resign as president, allowing his Veep to run as an incumbent with the full power of the White House. By earlier biding his time with the campaign decision, the president lost credibility among several key party leaders and donors. He is now cringing at any possibility of a troubled Biden performance during the DNC gathering in Chicago.
Fickle winds may blow in the Windy City.