'A course correct': How Biden resets his campaign since he's likely not going anywhere

President Joe Biden's widely panned debate performance Thursday night in Atlanta has many prominent Democrats asking a simple question:

What do we do now?

Swapping out Biden for someone else is likely not possible — unless he quits the race himself. He's won the requisite number of delegates to capture the Democratic nomination, and Biden said Friday at a rally that he was in the race to win. So now strategists and donors are mulling how the 81-year-old can reset his campaign and take the fight to former President Donald Trump.

Some said the president needed to take a moment to survey the damage. Others said it was important that he increase his campaign travel schedule, do more media availabilities and emphasize how he's always been an underdog. Some added that he needed to acknowledge his years and what Father Time has wrought rather than act as though age weren't an issue.

Finally, there was broad agreement that Biden needs to home in on a message that contrasts his values and those of Trump, whom they describe as vain and vindictive.

"Bad debate nights happen," former President Barack Obama wrote on X. "Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself."

Biden missed a chance to hit that note Thursday, several strategists said. They had wanted him to pick an issue such as reproductive rights or the economy, for example, and stay far more focused on how Americans would be worse off if Trump returned to the White House. They want him to do the same moving forward.

The president's campaign "definitely needs more to offer clarity on the larger message they're trying to convey with respect to Trump and how horrible he is," Democratic strategist Bill Carrick said.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said Biden remained best positioned to lead the Democratic Party and that his past ability to overcome setbacks, tragedy and adversity offers a guide for how he should approach this moment.

Khanna, a frequent Biden surrogate on the campaign trail, suggested that the president stage a rally on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to evoke the image of Sylvester Stallone running up them in the iconic moment from the movie "Rocky."

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