- He pitches a series of town halls overseen by Obama and Bill Clinton
- He predicts Biden is getting out but urges against ‘anointing’ Harris
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville is getting behind a version of a ‘mini-primary’ that could pick a successor to President Joe Biden without ‘anointing’ Kamala Harris in his place.
Carville, who served as Bill Clinton‘s campaign guru during his 1992 run, put his own spin on a way for Democrats to get out of the political thicket they find themselves after Biden’s stumbling debate performance during an appearance on NewsNation’s Cuomo.
Large majorities of Democrats are registering concerns about his age and performance, but as Biden pointed out in a Monday letter, he has already wrapped up the nomination by winning millions of primary votes.
‘Mark my words: Joe Biden is going to be out of the 2024 presidential race. Whether he is ready to admit it or not,’ Carville wrote, on a day when Senate Democrats were issuing vague statements about Biden doing what is ‘good for the country’ even while progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said declared ‘the matter is closed.’
Carville’s chief concern is a process that rival Donald Trump can cast as corrupt or manipulated by elites.
Democratic strategist James Carville predicted President Biden would drop out, but urged him to avoid a process that amounted ‘anointing’ Vice President Kamala Harris
‘It can’t be by anointing Vice President Kamala Harris or anyone else as the presumptive Democratic nominee. We’ve got to do it out in the open — the exact opposite of what Donald Trump wants us to do,’ he wrote in the New York Times.
He calls for skipping ‘backrooms’ and orchestrating a public vetting process, although it is delegates at the party’s convention in Chicago who would make the ultimate choice. Carville wants to hold a series of ‘town halls’ around the country that he predicts would draw big TV crowds and interest.
He tips his hat to a ‘mini-primary’ version sketched out by columnist Ezra Klein and referenced by Rep. James C. Clyburn, an influential Biden backer.
Klein said the choice facing Democrats was a ‘coronation or a contest’ and described Biden withdrawing and asking delegates to back Harris as his successor a coronation.
‘Mark my words: Joe Biden is going to be out of the 2024 presidential race,’ Carville wrote
Rep. James C. Clyburn discussed the ‘mini-primary’ idea on CNN
Clyburn floated the idea last week amid Democratic angst over Biden’s candidacy.
‘You can actually fashion the process that’s already in place to make it a mini-primary, and I would support that absolutely,’ Clyburn, a Biden campaign co-chair, said on CNN.
‘We can’t close that down, and we should open up everything for the general election. I think that Kamala Harris would acquit herself very well in that kind of a process, but then it would be fair to everybody.’
Biden is using the week to try to shore up support among lawmakers, and on Monday night he phoned into a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, a group that includes Clyburn, and whose members are lining up to express loyalty to Biden.
Carville called the idea that Biden will step down ‘inevitable’ in an appearance on NewsNation, even as he assures lawmakers he will be the nominee.
He wants former presidents Clinton and Barack Obama to play a role in vetting and overseeing the town halls. But he indicated he didn’t run the idea by them first. ‘Better to ask forgiveness than permission. I just throw an idea out there,’ he said.