Elise Jordan: Biden ‘Absolutely Cannot Have a Senior Moment’ at Next Week’s Debate

LEMIRE: “Yeah, and certainly there’s a sense that — because Biden really pushed for it, no crowd, because Trump plays off the crowd so well. He’ll be deprived of that. There was a coin flip yesterday and the Biden team won the coin flip, picked which podium to have, as opposed to the ability to go last. So actually it will be Trump who delivers the closing argument next Thursday, Elise. To Eugene’s point, the Biden camp, we can tell how important they think this moment is when they wanted to have it. June, the earliest we have had a general election debate in decades, because they need to remind Americans this is the choice, they need to remind Americans, ‘Hey, this is who Donald Trump is, and who he will be again.’”
Jordan: “Well, the Biden campaign needs to set the narrative early that Biden is competent and capable to lead going forward. And he absolutely cannot have a senior moment at this debate. That’s what I heard from — I was in Wisconsin and Michigan two weeks ago for a lot of focus groups, and what I heard from voters, Democrats who support Biden, is just that they’re going to be watching and they want to make sure that he’s up to the task. They might still be planning to vote for him, but still, they’re uncomfortable about the age. It really is an albatross that is hanging around this candidate and campaign.”