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    • Joe Biden out of the race. NJ Democrats willing to gamble
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    Joe Biden out of the race. NJ Democrats willing to gamble

    Vaseline Posted on

    3 minutes reading time

    The Democratic Party, which has been in a state of denial, is now in a state of desperation. The big gamble has finally arrived. The Democrats are rolling the dice like a hollow-eyed craps player at 4 a.m. in a dark Atlantic City casino, throwing away their last stack of chips in hopes of a big score.

    Assuming there isn’t a divisive battle on the floor of Chicago next month, Democrats are hoping that Vice President Kamala Harris — whose approval ratings are slightly better than those of now-outgoing President Joe Biden — can step into a phone booth and emerge with superpowers to unite a divided party and defeat the dreaded Donald Trump.

    That’s quite a task and you have very little time.

    Charlie Stile: NJ Democrats Are Itchy About Joe Biden’s Future as Their Nominee. Here’s Why | Stile

    Editorial: Thank you, President Biden, for your service to our nation

    What strategy will Democrats choose in New Jersey?

    New Jersey Democrats have spent the past nine months in a fearsome renaissance that began with the corruption indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez and ended with a weakened county party machinery and a new-age candidate — Rep. Andy Kim — as the party’s Senate nominee. Now Harris and the Democrats must make history as they reshape the party in a sprint.

    The whole calamity began after Biden’s debate fiasco, the worst debate performance in modern political history. It crystallized all the private concerns about Biden’s age and sharpened them into a prime-time public spectacle.

    But that was followed last week by Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, an off-script meandering into grievanceland. It served as a reminder of how vulnerable Trump still is as a candidate, a reminder of the chaos of the past now looming in the future, but this time — because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity — with no guardrails to stop his quest for revenge.

    It fueled the belief that the party just needed a new message and a messenger to prosecute the case against Trump. Biden was clearly not up to the task.

    Party leaders who held their breath — or looked the other way, hoping it would all work itself out — as a proud Biden clung to his nomination are now expressing relief.

    “Let us move forward together and unite. The stakes are too high,” Kim said Sunday.

    As if the Democrats had any other choice.

    Charlie Stile is a veteran political columnist from New Jersey. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, subscribe or activate your digital account today.

    Email address: [email protected]

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