July 18, 2024 09:52 AM UTC

Hickenlooper: Clock Ticking On Biden's Fateful Decision

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: There is a lot of information to be gleaned, including between the lines, from this rundown via POLITICO’s “Playbook”.

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An exclusive report from Jeff Mason at Reuters today quotes Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper saying that President Joe Biden, who was forced off the campaign trail yesterday after testing positive for COVID-19, is close to a decision on whether to remain in the 2024 presidential race after weeks of uncertainty and dramatic events elsewhere continue to cloud Biden’s prospects, and despite Biden’s insistence up until this week that all systems were go:

U.S. President Joe Biden is working towards a decision on whether to stay in the presidential race that is good for the country, Senator John Hickenlooper told Reuters, noting sadness among Democrats about the president while stopping short of saying he should step aside…

“Joe Biden has always put the country first. He’s done what’s best for America…I think he’ll keep doing so,” Hickenlooper said in a telephone interview late Wednesday. “He’s working towards that.”

Asked about Biden potentially stepping aside, Hickenlooper said: “That’s his decision to make, but certainly there’s more and more indications that that would be in the best interests of the country, I think.”

Since the June 27th presidential debate between ex-President Donald Trump and Biden, voters have been subjected to an almost daily emotional roller coaster of attempts by Biden to overcome the doubt created by his performance, interrupted by more evidence of dissent in the Democratic ranks over whether Biden should remain in the race. An AP poll released yesterday shows fully 65% of Democrats believe Biden should withdraw, the clearest sign yet that Biden’s attempts to restore confidence on the stump and in frequent interviews since the debate have not been successful. At the same time, polling of the presidential head-to-head matchup since the debate has showed a smaller drop in support for Biden than alarmed critics and pundits feared. Similarly, polling in the presidential race does not appear to have moved meaningfully after the assassination attempt against Trump last weekend, another sign voters’ opinions are so set in stone that no externality can change them.

Unfortunately for Biden, those narrow polls mostly have him coming up short, and at this point there is no denying that the crisis of confidence among Democrats is real. A perceived need for Biden to dramatically reengage in the weeks after the debate has very clearly not been met in the minds of a large majority of Democratic voters. The specter of a second Trump administration fueled by the dystopian plot laid out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has filled Democrats with dread. Any change in circumstance that could help ensure Trump isn’t given another once-unthinkable four years as President feels welcome.

And that is why Democrats are at this incredibly difficult moment, after four historically successful years of Joe Biden as President.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize how beloved Joe Biden is and what sorrow and anguish people feel that he might not be the candidate. Even people who feel that he should not be the candidate feel a great sense of loss,” Hickenlooper said. [Pols emphasis]

“He’s been one of the greatest presidents, perhaps the greatest president of my lifetime.”

But Hickenlooper said feedback from his constituents in Colorado – not donors, he said, and not insiders – showed overwhelmingly that average Democratic voters wanted Biden to step aside.

In the end, it’s a decision that only Biden as the Democratic nominee affirmed by millions of Democratic primary voters can make. But whatever happens next, history will note that it was Colorado Democratic leaders, from Sen. Michael Bennet to Reps. Brittany Pettersen and most recently Jason Crow, who led the campaign for this dramatic course change–sincerely believing it was the only option to ensure the universally shared goal of keeping Trump from returning to the White House.

That’s where we’re at as of this writing. We’ll update when we know more, and as always try to do no harm until then.