Many panicked Democrats are calling for President Biden to step down after his poor debate performance last week. Liberal news media, including The New York Times , are saying Biden should make way for a fresh voice. Some party activists want Jill Biden to have a heartfelt talk with her husband about dropping out.
But despite Biden’s poor debate performance last Thursday it is far from clear that he would do worse than the alternatives. His critics have failed to consider the second part of the equation. How do you choose his replacement? Choosing a new party nominee at a party convention is fraught with complications and potential missteps.
For much of American history the parties have used their nominating conventions to decide who would run for president. But they haven’t used them for this purpose since 1968. In calling for a Biden replacement, Democrats need to reckon with the possibility that the party is ill-prepared for an old-fashioned convention.
It may be unrealistic to think that party leaders and delegates with no experience in convention politics will coalesce around the best possible candidate. Conventions are not necessarily a bad way to choose a nominee. In fact many political scientists believe it is a better way than primaries.
Through party conventions the Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln and Democrats picked Franklin D. Roosevelt. But that was an era when party barons across the country helped make these decisions.
Fueled by social movements and anti.