I wrote a couple of posts strongly defending Biden staying as the Democratic presidential candidate (for example.) I had several serious concerns should he drop out of the race:
- Chaos that would result as various potential candidates jostled for the nomination and the impact on Black voters if Harris wasn't the candidate.
- Issues over who had access to the money that had already been collected
- Questions about whether a new candidate would be listed on the ballots of all states.
I acknowledged that Biden was getting on in years (as is the GOP candidate) and that he clearly did not do well in the debate with Trump, but was worried the three concerns listed above would doom a new candidate. I was also concerned that some of those calling for Biden to step aside - people who normally are politically savvy - might have had personnel encounters with Biden that revealed more than a single debate's worth of issues. And I also heard people who said it was the money people who were pressuring other Democrats to get rid of Biden.
Well, I was wrong. The new candidate has stirred a level of enthusiasm for a presidential candidate I last saw at the Alaska Democratic caucus in 2008, when the Begich Middle School was packed - seriously packed like a sardine can - with people who had come out to caucus for Obama.
The people working on all this - including Biden and Harris - made sure the three issues I listed above were resolved before the announcement. Clearly they made sure Harris was the only candidate and the issues about the money - with her as candidate - apparently was not an issue. And getting the new nominees on the ballot apparently will not be a problem. Which makes sense since the Democrats haven't had their convention yet anyway.
Yesterday I signed up for the White Dudes for Harris call this afternoon (Alaska time) and watched cavalcade of (mostly) white men explain from different perspectives why they were supporting Harris.
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| Singer Josh Groben |
There was an alternating pattern of politicians/officials and celebrities - mostly actors.
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| New Orleans Mayor Landrieu |
Others included: Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Governor Pritzker, Wisconsin Gov. Tim Walz,
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| Actor Paul Shearer |
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, California Rep Adam Schiff,
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| Actor Rob Lowe |
Actor Joseph Gordon Levitt, Actor Sean Astin (Patty Duke's son), Rep. Steny Hoyer, and others. (You can tell by the money amounts listed on the screenshots that I don't have them all up in the right order. Well maybe it's not clear enough, but the totals were on the blue/red bar on the right.)
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| North Carolina Gov Roy Cooper |
It went on for about three hours and they said that there were 170,000 participants. Though the white dudes were not nearly as generous as other groups. By the end there was about $4 million donated, which pales compared to the - STOP -
I went back to check on the numbers for the White Women's call. Different sources give different numbers. BBC said $3 million in one hour. The Hollywood Reporter writes that
"Author Glennon Doyle shared on Friday [the call was Monday] that the call raised over $8.5 million so far."
So the $4 million raised in the three hour call was actually significant.
Most of the celebrities who participated talked about activism they're involved with such as unions or spoke about why different issues were important to them.
I'd note that I 'registered' Sunday, but never got a link to the Zoom call. I tried again just before the call. I couldn't figure out how to skip the donation page. Maybe you couldn't. Maybe that's a way to screen out saboteurs. I wasn't pleased and donated the lowest amount - $25 - though I guess I could have done my own custom donation, based on amounts listed on the bottom of the screen. But even then I had trouble getting to the Zoom link. Eventually I found a link to the Youtube live page. I would have contributed more once I got on if I hadn't been forced to pay before getting on. (And perhaps there was a way that I didn't see.)
So, despite my earlier Keep Biden stance, I'm a happy camper. I know I wouldn't want to keep the hours and travel schedule a president keeps and that Biden's already done this for four years. Now he can be an elder statesman rather than possibly die in office.
And there appears to be a great deal of enthusiasm over Harris being the candidate, while it appears that Trump's pick of Vance - who apparently was pushed on him by Peter Thiel and perhaps Elon Musk - isn't working out as well as Trump might have liked.
Hillbilly Elegy is still on Netflix and we watched it the other night. I'm not sure it's the most flattering portrait. Perhaps he thinks his rise from poverty and abuse are admirable - and I'm sure they are - but he comes across as pitiful in many scenes. And I'm not sure how accurate a portrayal of his life the film is. I doubt Trump has seen the film because he hates weak losers (which is how the young Vance is portrayed in many scenes). If he did see it, it would support the idea that he chose Vance because of the financial support from Thiel and other tech billionaires. This is going to be a troubled relationship.
UPDATED July 30, 2024
I got this as part of an email from Ross Morales Rocketto and Brad Bauman, who organized the White Dudes for Harris call:
"Over 193,000 people attended the kickoff call
We raised $4.2 million dollars last night for Harris for President
Over 150,000 folks signed up to join White Dudes for Harris
And our twitter account was banned…no joke, Guess we got under someone’s skin yesterday ;)" [emphasis added]
It becomes clearer each day that Musk bought Twitter to be an election influencer.
