A blitz primary was proposed to choose a new Democrat presidential nominee as a solution to replacing President Joe Biden on the party ticket, the Washington Examiner reported Monday.
Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor, and Ted Dintersmith, a venture capitalist and education philanthropist, offered a plan that Brooks said can unite the party around a new presidential nominee for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
Brooks said she wants her fellow Democrats to know that "this crisis, like most crises, is also an opportunity."
The proposal has Biden, whose stumbling debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month precipitated the crisis, agreeing to step down by the middle of this month in a "speech for the ages," according to a memo reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Vice President Kamala Harris would then back his decision and support a blitz primary process, where candidates, including Harris, would make their cases as to why they should be the Democrat nominee. The five to eight candidates with the most votes would then pledge to run "positive-only" campaigns before the Democratic National Convention.
"The Democratic Party has a deep bench of potentially compelling candidates, and if given the opportunity to lay out their visions of the future, I think the Democratic Party could end up with an impressive and very electable ticket," Brooks told the Washington Examiner. "But that can only happen if President Biden is willing to pass the torch and bless an orderly and condensed process to identify a new nominee," which so far he has refused to do despite pressure from within his own party.
Brooks said she and Dintersmith are "admirers of Joe Biden."
"I think he's been a good president, not perfect and I quibble with various things, of course, but overall, I think he's been a good president," Brooks said. "And the debate was just heartbreaking to watch."
Brooks argued that Democrats still have a chance to make an inspiring choice and build enthusiasm for the election.
"Nothing is impossible. ... I don't think that if Biden stays in that the election is unwinnable for Democrats," she said. "I think it still remains tight. But I sure think that Biden at the top of the ticket greatly reduces the Democrats' chances of winning at the polls in November."
Brooks added: "The idea that we just have to accept this terrible situation and just moan about it between now and November doesn't strike me as a great strategy for a party that wants to win an election."
Brooks said there's nothing "magic" about her idea and that Biden's "blessing" of the plan, combined with a united front from Harris, could lead to a greater result for the party than where it is currently.
The memo has the eventual candidate being announced by Biden on the third day of the convention, which begins Aug. 19, with former Democrat Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joining them on the stage.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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