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Scoop: Biden doubted Harris' election chances
https://www.axios.com/ ^ | 7/22/2024 | alex thompson

Posted on 07/22/2024 7:01:04 AM PDT by bitt

President Biden hesitated to drop his re-election campaign in part because he and his senior advisers worried that Vice President Kamala Harris wasn't up to taking on Donald Trump, according to three Biden aides familiar with recent talks about his plans.

Why it matters: Biden, 81, ultimately decided to withdraw under pressure from the party and endorsed Harris, but his private anxieties reflect broader questions among some Democratic leaders about Harris as their nominee this November.

Driving the news: This next week will be critical for Harris, 59, to prove doubters wrong as she moves quickly to try to clear the field of potential challengers for the Democratic nomination.

Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton and many Democratic lawmakers quickly endorsed Harris, but others — including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former President Barack Obama — did not immediately do so.

"We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," Obama said in a statement. "But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."

Zoom in: Harris' time as vice president has been occasionally rocky, defined in part by large staff turnover, retreating from politically risky responsibilities, and mocking from some Beltway insiders.

Much of Harris' staff has turned over in the past 3½ years.

About half of the vice president's staff is paid by the Senate, which requires regular disclosures. Of the 47 Harris staffers listed in 2021, only five still worked for her as of this spring, according to the disclosures. Her full staff list is not publicly disclosed.

(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: alexthompson; axios; biden; harris; jaketapper; originalsin; pages
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1 posted on 07/22/2024 7:01:05 AM PDT by bitt
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To: null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; bitt; ...

p


2 posted on 07/22/2024 7:01:20 AM PDT by bitt (<img src=' 'width=30%>)
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To: bitt

SNIP:

...”The intrigue: The relationship between the vice president’s office and the West Wing has often been tense.

White House aides sometimes felt Harris wasn’t a team player and stayed away from any task with risk.

But some Harris aides felt that the White House, particularly top aide Anita Dunn, wasn’t helpful to the vice president.

At times, Harris aides suspected Biden’s team didn’t want to give Harris opportunities to shine to avoid her being seen as a viable alternative to Biden ahead of his re-election bid.

Even so, Dunn worked to elevate Harris during Biden’s campaign, particularly with Harris’ work in pushing to defend abortion rights.

In response to questions for this article, Harris’ chief of staff Lorraine Voles said in a statement: “Anita is a supportive colleague who works closely every day with the Office of the Vice President.”

The tensions between the Biden and Harris staffs could get personal, however.....”


3 posted on 07/22/2024 7:02:37 AM PDT by bitt (<img src=' 'width=30%>)
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To: bitt

This is being leaked by the Obama camp. I really hope Obama tries to oust her from the ticket. We need the Dem Civil War to continue.


4 posted on 07/22/2024 7:04:38 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: bitt

BTTT


5 posted on 07/22/2024 7:05:23 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: bitt

Author Alex is very hip and knows all the latest journalistic techniques...

“Why it matters:”

“Driving the news:”

“Zoom in:”

“Explainer:”


6 posted on 07/22/2024 7:07:35 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“When exposing a crime is treated like a crime, you are being ruled by criminals” – Edward Snowden)
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To: bitt

It would if Bidon had a press conference denying dropping the election.


7 posted on 07/22/2024 7:08:42 AM PDT by Jonty30 (Trump beat Hilary in 2016. He ended her kill streak in 2024.)
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To: bitt
I can't imagine why Biden would doubt her chances.

After all, she's:


8 posted on 07/22/2024 7:09:30 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Take Trump off ballots. Fail. Take his money. Fail. Put Him in jail. Fail. Assassinate him. Fail.)
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To: bitt

Bookmark


9 posted on 07/22/2024 7:11:03 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (God save the United States!)
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To: bitt
"We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," Obama said in a statement. "But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."

Every time I see that statement, it strikes me as somewhat ominous.

10 posted on 07/22/2024 7:11:15 AM PDT by Allegra
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To: bitt; CondoleezzaProtege; frank ballenger

I believe people are underestimating the machine behind Kamala.

She’s a hot, incompetent mess like Bidet. And yet, before the debate, Bidet was polling within the margin of error. Our side was like “what gives? What does it take to get people to open their eyes?”

That machine that caused eyes to be closed was bashed after the debate, and thrashed through Saturday.

Now that he’s been thrown overboard, the Dems and that machine are revitalized.

With that energy comes a “Kamala can WIN” attitude that will hypnotize the willing to do “whatever it takes” to defeat Trump.

The MSM et al that covered up for Biden’s record and mental deficiencies will leave their mea culpas in the dust. They will go all-in on their heroine worship and gaslighting and covering up HER deficiencies, ie, word salad, prosecuting blacks in SanFran for pot, failure on the border, etc.

Make no mistake: the eyes that were opened about Bidet are about to be closed again by the machine.

There was an article a few days ago about the possibility that Trump “peaked too soon.” It is vital that people don’t become sanguine and keep the volume at 11.


11 posted on 07/22/2024 7:16:08 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s)
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To: bitt

Great article. Much more believable coming from Axios than if it did from, say, Newsmax or GP.


12 posted on 07/22/2024 7:16:30 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: DoodleBob

This time, I see a lot of conservatives asking “why aren’t we 50 points ahead?”


13 posted on 07/22/2024 7:18:06 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: nwrep

That’s for the positivity. Does your wife make you pee sitting down?


14 posted on 07/22/2024 7:19:23 AM PDT by pburgh01
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To: bitt

She’s not. Harris is a bumbling idiot and is polling worse than Trump.


15 posted on 07/22/2024 7:34:49 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: nwrep; SamAdams76

We are wasting time and energy on ‘there were three shooters’ and ‘Hunter is in trouble’ and ‘the media were enablers’ and ‘Joe didn’t sign the letter’ and ‘Kamala is an easy target.’

Trump was smart to focus his Acceptance speech criticisms on “the Administration.” I don’t doubt he’s in it to win it.

Everyone needs to stop with yesterday’s game and get in the current game.


16 posted on 07/22/2024 7:36:14 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s)
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To: pburgh01; nwrep

I love it when empirical evidence is brought to the debate.


17 posted on 07/22/2024 7:40:05 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s)
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To: DoodleBob
Trump was also smart not to spend much of his campaign money the past few weeks.

There was some criticism that Trump was sitting on his pile of campaign cash and not doing anything with it to go on the attack against Biden.

Now we know why.

18 posted on 07/22/2024 7:40:11 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (7,234,971 Truth | 87,532,095 Twitter)
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To: bitt

Harris isn’t going to be on the ticket. The DNC will draft someone else during their convention. It is so, so obvious if you pay attention to the corrupted Democratic playbook.


19 posted on 07/22/2024 7:41:33 AM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7

Harris isn’t going to be on the ticket. The DNC will draft someone else during their convention. It is so, so obvious if you pay attention to the corrupted Democratic playbook.


Don’t tell that to Jim Clyburn or the CBC. If Heels does not lead the ticket, cities will burn....guaranteed.


20 posted on 07/22/2024 7:49:34 AM PDT by AFret. (.)
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