US election: Democrat Gavin Newsom looks best placed to replace Biden
livemint.comWhen cameras captured California Governor Gavin Newsom walking into CNN’s spin room last Thursday, flashing his Hollywood smile before the presidential debate in Atlanta, a few political observers in his home state rushed to social media with some version of the same annoyed question: “Why is he there?" He was there to cheer on President Joe Biden before his debate with former President Donald Trump. “Biden is confident," Newsom told reporters. “He’s got a record and he’s got a vision for the future." A couple of painful hours later, after a debate in which Biden, his voice raspy and halting, looked every bit of his 81 years, that vision for the future seemed cloudy.
Biden’s frail appearance led to immediate and widespread speculation that he would be pushed to decline the Democratic nomination. And that kind of talk, in turn, leads quickly to Newsom. Of the many prominent Democrats with aspirations for higher office, Newsom is arguably best equipped—in fund-raising, messaging and campaign infrastructure, to step up in an emergency.
And this is, by all indications, one for the party. The 90 minutes that Biden spent on stage with Trump, live before millions of viewers, served to reinforce what polls have indicated since Biden decided to run for re-election: Most voters believe he is too old to be president. The panic among Democratic Party insiders could ease in coming days if post-debate polling doesn’t turn out to be as dire as many suspect.
But if the party is looking for a replacement, Newsom is an obvious choice. Fellow Californian Vice President Kamala Harris could do the job, of course. But polling typically shows Harris with high unfavourable numbers and, if Biden’s candidacy goes south, her ties to the president
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