Analysis: Three things to watch as Biden's candidacy hangs in balance

While it might seem like a stretch to separate Biden — a senator for 36 years, then vice president for eight before becoming president in 2021 — from the so-called D.C. elites, his top campaign aides also have attempted to do just that since Thursday night’s one-on-one with Trump. (That’s a total of 47 years.)

“It’s a familiar story: Following Thursday night’s debate, the Beltway class is counting Joe Biden out,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, wrote in a Saturday memo. “The data in the battleground states, though, tells a different story.

“On every metric that matters, data shows it did nothing to change the American people’s perception, our supporters are more fired up than ever, and Donald Trump only reminded voters of why they fired him four years ago and failed to expand his appeal beyond his MAGA base,” she said.

It will be worth tracking Biden’s closest congressional allies, including Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons. Asked Monday in a television interview whether the president had decided to stay in the race, Coons replied, “Yes.”

Coons said Biden’s more energetic rally Friday in Raleigh, N.C., was the “beginning of that process of showing him forceful, engaged, energetic (and) going through the arguments that I, frankly, wish he had made as forcefully on the debate stage Thursday night.”

Elected Democrats

Biden aides had been quick to note that no elected Democratic lawmakers or officials had publicly called for him to step aside. That changed, however, on Tuesday.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told MSNBC that she has heard this from fellow Democrats: “Some are like, ‘Well, how can we subject the (nomination) process to what might be possible? Others are, ‘Joe is our guy. We love him. We trust him. He has vision, knowledge, judgment, integrity,” she said, adding, “I trust his judgment.”

Doggett issued a statement moments later saying Biden should end his bid for a second term.

“Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so,” Doggett said in a statement.

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