An idea to rescue Biden’s campaign re: debates

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Biden’s biggest problem right now is that an overwhelming majority of voters think he’s too old to be president.  And he’s doing very little to combat that notion by doing so few real public appearances outside of a couple tightly controlled speeches.

Biden needs to show voters that he has the vigor and competence of a much younger candidate, and can really go toe-to-toe with a Republican opponent over a long and grueling campaign.

So I had thought on how he could demonstrate this:
Biden should challenge each of his potential Republican opponents to a series of one-on-one debates.

This could be like five weekly one-hour debates over the next two months. The actual Republican debates are useless, and Biden has little opportunity to get attention for his campaign otherwise.

This gives Biden an opportunity to show to tout his policy accomplishments, and show that he’s still “got it”.

An besides Trump, what Republican would turn this down?  It would give each of them a chance to show that they are on the level of Biden and Trump, and let voters see how they would perform as a nominee in a way that the jungle debates never can.

If Biden wants to continue his campaign, he needs to turn things around fast.  A drastic step like this is necessary, and might be a win-win for all participants.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

The man was scared to debate RFK Jr. You think he's ready to go one-on-one with Haley, Vivek, and other bright minds

Doing all these debates requires a ton of preparation. You have to read a lot; you have to do mock debates. He probably doesn't have time to do 5 random one-on-one debates (in addition to the 3-4 debates he'd do against Trump in the general)

Haley is a different matter.  But as skeptical as I am of Biden’s campaign in general right now, I think he’d wipe the floor with Vivek, if only because the best possible answer to most of what Ramaswamy says really is just “C’mon man!”

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

What!? He should go out of his way to let multiple Republicans who have zero chance of winning the nomination have a chance rip into him in different ways and seeing what sticks? That’s a comically bad idea. Trump could just literally grab anything that sees to attract attention and repeat it ad nauseam.

Biden’s best hope of coming across as authentic, and making this argument: “Trump left us in the middle of a pandemic. The economy was in shambles, businesses were closing their doors, and hundreds of thousands of people died. As president, I got us out of it. Restaurants and shops were back in business, I gave help to people in need which Republicans tried to block. We’re still trying to grow the economy, but are we better off than we were four years ago? Heck yeah!”

The issue isn’t the substance of the argument but the medium.  Exactly how does Biden get this message out there when he isn’t actually doing much campaigning, or even any press conferences?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Challenging candidates of the other party who have zero shot at the nomination to a debate as the sitting prez would look completely desperate.

What Biden should do is more TV interviews and Townhall formats, where he can directly interact with voters instead of wasting everyone's time with pointless debates.

I do think he should do these things.  But not many voters are going to watch this.
They’s watch a 1-on-1 debate with DeSantis or Haley.

What is there for the Democrats to lose?
Let’s use a Biden vs. Haley debate an example.

- If Biden beats Haley decisively, he proves to voters that he ready for a real fight against Trump, and gets to broadcast his policy accomplishments in the best possible light.

- If Haley beats Biden decisively, it will significantly bolster Haley and give her a fighting chance to win the nomination against Trump.  And on top of that, it might convince enough people within the Democratic party to dump Biden and replace him with a stronger candidate.

- If it’s basically a tie, it would give both candidates most of the benefits of winning, if only just from the publicity, and mostly just hurt Trump.