The Jun 27 Debate Date

Was Biden adamant about running in 2024?

It was his campaign, specifically Jen O’Malley Dillon, now head of the Harris campaign, who engineered the unprecedented Jun 27 debate date — otherwise would’ve been Sep 16 (earliest previous debate was Sep 21, 1980).

While it’s likely there are other explanations, like COVID early-voting increasing desire for an earlier debate, it’s plausible it was strategy.

One, Biden got to trial balloon the viability of his own campaign. If he’s well ahead after the RNC, he probably stays in.

Two, Dems got to strategically switch campaigns after the RNC, but before the DNC.

Three, Dems got to avoid a hotly contested primary (may be bad for a party’s chances).

Four, Dems got to avoid a debate about Israel (could’ve got ugly).

Five, his campaign floated him only serving one term in 2019 (complication is he says he only ran to stop Trump — he wouldn’t have been running against a Marco or Jeb! — and didn’t anticipate a rematch).

2024

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