For the last few months, I have been regularly approached by friends, political junkies and those who know what I do for a living about the likelihood of President Joe Biden dropping out of the race. Those queries have only increased since the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report last week on Biden’s handling of classified documents, which described Biden as elderly and forgetful.
While most of the folks raising the subject are Republicans (many of whom believe there is some sort of secret plot to install Michelle Obama as the nominee), a lot of nervous Democrats are musing about the possibility of a “candidate swap” at the convention, or a last-minute entry of a high-profile Democratic officeholder (i.e. California Gov. Gavin Newsom).
Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Charlie Mathesian have each laid out the reasons why a last-minute “White Knight” scenario isn’t going to happen — the most important being that state deadlines for primary ballot access in all but six states will have passed by the end of February, making it impossible for a candidate to collect
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