Shifting ground? DNC delays Biden nomination first step

The Democratic National Committee, after pressure by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), will delay by a week the first step to nominate President Joe Biden for re-election.

Reports the New York Times, the DNC is delaying "plans to nominate President Biden for re-election in a virtual roll call as the party’s voters and many of its top officials continue to express discontent about heading into the general election with him atop their ticket."

"Top party officials announced on Wednesday that the virtual roll call for Mr. Biden would take place during the first week of August, an accommodation to Democrats who had protested about plans that would have started the voting as soon as next week," the Times added.

In addition, a top Democrat who previously told a private fundraiser that Biden's re-nomination could cost Democrats the Senate and the House, formally called for Biden to end his campaign.

“Our nation is at a crossroads,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told The Los Angeles Times. “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

At the same time, President Biden told an interviewer that he would consider leaving the race if a doctor told him he had a medical condition. Biden has self-reported no relevant medical conditions.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Biden told an interviewer for BET News, according to a brief excerpt released by the network.

In addition, in a new Democratic strategy memo that interviewed over 15,000 voters in seven battleground states released today, nearly every suggested alternative Democrat performs better than Biden. The other candidates outperform Biden by three percentage points on average.

Notably, this includes Vice President Kamala Harris, "who runs better than the President (but behind the average alternative),” the memo states.

Other conclusions from the memo? “Some of the gains are coming from winning undecideds and those previously supporting a third party. However, alternative candidates are also pulling votes from Donald Trump. All candidates continue to hold the Democratic base.”

And: “Voters are looking for a fresh face. Those more closely tied to the current administration perform relatively worse than other tested candidates.”

Biden, for his part, says that he is staying in the race. He recently received support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who penned an editorial praising him in the New York Times. Biden also has strong support from Black Democratic lawmakers.

The new Democratic strategy memo is available at this link.