{"id":24484,"date":"2022-12-18T20:28:07","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T04:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=24484"},"modified":"2022-12-18T20:28:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T04:28:09","slug":"as-biden-mulls-his-future-a-progressive-group-is-urging-dont-run-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/12\/18\/as-biden-mulls-his-future-a-progressive-group-is-urging-dont-run-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"As Biden mulls his future, a progressive group is urging \u2018Don\u2019t Run Joe\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-garofoli\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joe Garofoli<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dec. 18, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dialog\/feed?app_id=137086563877087&amp;link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fpolitics%2Fjoegarofoli%2Farticle%2Fjoe-biden-president-progressive-17660108.php%3Futm_campaign%3DCMS%2520Sharing%2520Tools%2520(Premium)%26utm_source%3Dfacebook.com%26utm_medium%3Dreferral&amp;name=As%20Biden%20mulls%20his%20future%2C%20a%20progressive%20group%20is%20urging%20%E2%80%98Don%E2%80%99t%20Run%20Joe%E2%80%99&amp;description=The%20effort%20is%20run%20by%20people%20who%20voted%20for%20Biden%20two%20years%20ago%20against%20Donald%20Trump%20after...&amp;picture=https%3A%2F%2Fs.hdnux.com%2Fphotos%2F01%2F30%2F64%2F22%2F23282820%2F3%2FrawImage.jpg&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fpolitics%2Fjoegarofoli%2Farticle%2Fjoe-biden-president-progressive-17660108.php%3Futm_campaign%3DCMS%2520Sharing%2520Tools%2520(Premium)%26utm_source%3DUTMSOURCE%26utm_medium%3DUTMMEDIUM\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fpolitics%2Fjoegarofoli%2Farticle%2Fjoe-biden-president-progressive-17660108.php%3Futm_campaign%3DCMS%2520Sharing%2520Tools%2520(Premium)%26utm_source%3Dt.co%26utm_medium%3Dreferral&amp;text=As%20Biden%20mulls%20his%20future%2C%20a%20progressive%20group%20is%20urging%20%E2%80%98Don%E2%80%99t%20Run%20Joe%E2%80%99&amp;via=sfchronicle\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Your%20friend%20has%20shared%20a%20San%20Francisco%20Chronicle%20link%20with%20you%3A%20&amp;body=As%20Biden%20mulls%20his%20future%2C%20a%20progressive%20group%20is%20urging%20%E2%80%98Don%E2%80%99t%20Run%20Joe%E2%80%99%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fpolitics%2Fjoegarofoli%2Farticle%2Fjoe-biden-president-progressive-17660108.php%3Futm_campaign%3DCMS%2520Sharing%2520Tools%2520(Premium)%26utm_source%3Dshare-by-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%0A%0AThe%20effort%20is%20run%20by%20people%20who%20voted%20for%20Biden%20two%20years%20ago%20against%20Donald%20Trump%20after...%0A%0AThis%20message%20was%20sent%20via%20San%20Francisco%20Chronicle\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/joegarofoli\/articleComments\/joe-biden-president-progressive-17660108.php\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/30\/64\/22\/23282820\/3\/1200x0.jpg\" alt=\"President Biden just turned 80 in November. If he runs for re-election and wins, he\u2019d be 86 at the end of his second term.\"\/><figcaption><em>President Biden just turned 80 in November. If he runs for re-election and wins, he\u2019d be 86 at the end of his second term.Drew Angerer, Staff \/ Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Biden will take time over the holidays to decide whether to run for re-election. Meanwhile, there is already a campaign \u2014 with roots in California \u2014 that hopes he doesn\u2019t. Its name isn\u2019t exactly subtle: \u201cDon\u2019t Run Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plot twist: It is run by people who voted for Biden two years ago against Donald Trump after backing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The name points to the campaign\u2019s two audiences: One, of course, is Biden. The other is Democrats at large, asking them to \u201cnot run\u201d Biden as their candidate. Campaign organizers are not waiting around for Biden\u2019s answer. Last week, it began a TV ad in early state New Hampshire encouraging Biden to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As images of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump flash onscreen in the ad, a voice-over says, \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to risk the White House to a Republican who could defeat \u2018status quo Joe\u2019\u2026 our ideas are way more popular than Joe Biden is.\u201d The ad closes with a series of people looking into the camera and saying, \u201cDon\u2019t Run Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign may be run by progressives \u2014 including the California-based Roots Action network \u2014 but the sentiment isn\u2019t just theirs. They\u2019re just the ones saying it out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Politics with Joe Garofoli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/joegarofoli\/article\/california-republicans-marriage-law-17644035.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/joegarofoli\/article\/california-republicans-marriage-law-17644035.php\">These 6 California Republicans opposed protecting same-sex and interracial marriage. What were they thinking?<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/joegarofoli\/article\/california-republicans-marriage-law-17644035.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/joegarofoli\/article\/california-republicans-marriage-law-17644035.php\"><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Elon-Musk-is-leaning-into-transphobia-17649577.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Elon-Musk-is-leaning-into-transphobia-17649577.php\">Elon Musk is leaning into transphobia<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Elon-Musk-is-leaning-into-transphobia-17649577.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Elon-Musk-is-leaning-into-transphobia-17649577.php\"><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/12\/09\/majority-of-americans-dont-want-biden-or-trump-to-run-again-in-2024-cnbc-survey-shows.html\">CNBC poll<\/a>&nbsp;this month found that 70% of the respondents said Biden should not run for a second term with just 19% thinking he should. That total includes 57% of Democrats and 66% of independents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign and these respondents have very different reasons for wanting Biden to spend more time with his grandkids in Delaware. The campaign wants someone more progressive to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The poll respondents think Biden is too old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Disapproval of Biden is not a new sentiment, points out Norman Solomon, the Marin County resident who is national director of the progressive Roots Action organization, and one of the drivers behind Don\u2019t Run Joe. Biden\u2019s approval rating&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/biden-approval-rating\/\">has been below 50% since mid-August 2021,<\/a>&nbsp;according to the website FiveThirtyEight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just extraordinary how unpopular his views are among the electorate in general. So that\u2019s a pretty weak hand to be holding to go into a general election,\u201d Solomon told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet Biden\u2019s approval rating \u2014 currently at 43% \u2014 is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/biden-approval-rating\/\">right around<\/a>&nbsp;what Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan were registering at this point of their presidencies. It is far below where Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush were at. Obama, Clinton, Reagan and George W. Bush were elected to second terms. The others weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this \u201cis uncharted territory,\u201d said Chris Liquori, the New Hampshire coordinator of the Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign. Biden may have won in 2020, but he benefited from Trump\u2019s poor handling of the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is going to be a very different race than 2020. There\u2019s no COVID catastrophe like there was,\u201d Liquori said. \u201cAnd just because the midterms went better than everyone expected doesn\u2019t mean two years from now that\u2019s still going to be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biden\u2019s approval numbers didn\u2019t change much after Democrats defied expectations in November\u2019s midterm elections, holding control of the Senate and narrowly losing their majority in the House. Some worry that younger voters \u2014 whose strong turnout helped Democrats avoid the oft-predicted Republican \u201cred wave\u201d \u2014 will turn out in 2024 for the octogenarian Biden when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Young-progressives-aren-t-thrilled-about-Biden-15254057.php\">many were skeptical of him in 2020.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alan Minsky, a Los Angeles resident who is executive director of the Progressive Democrats of America, said he is supportive of the Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign \u201cbecause I want to see a progressive elected president. And if he runs that\u2019s unlikely.\u201d The organization has not made a decision on whom it will back for president in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there are some major challenges with the Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If not Joe, then who?<\/strong>&nbsp;There are (at least) three hackneyed axioms in politics. No. 1 is \u201cThe only poll that counts is the one on Election Day.\u201d No. 2 is \u201cIt all comes down to turnout.\u201d And No. 3 is the one that is applicable here: \u201cYou can\u2019t beat somebody with nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who is going to take on Biden and persuade him not run? Sanders said he won\u2019t run if Biden does. Gov. Gavin Newsom, amid his repeated assurances about having&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/California-Gov-Gavin-Newsom-says-he-has-17187222.php\">\u201csubzero interest\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;in running for president, said he won\u2019t challenge Biden, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is Vice President Kamala Harris the great savior? Her&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/polls\/approval\/kamala-harris\/\">approval rate (42%)<\/a>&nbsp;is lower than Biden\u2019s, and her 2020 presidential campaign dissolved before 2019 ended. Not that the Don\u2019t Run Joe crew would want her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s completely up on the Biden train,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cThe Don\u2019t Run Joe campaign has a distinct lack of enthusiasm for either part of the Biden-Harris ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg? He\u2019d better hope not if South Carolina is the first primary in the reshuffled Democratic primary calendar. Buttigieg\u2019s 2020 presidential run was sunk, in part, because only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Bay-Area-donors-question-Buttigieg-about-lack-of-14911345.php\">2% of Black voters backed him.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mentioning the A-word:<\/strong>&nbsp;Biden turned 80 last month. He would be 86 at the end of a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shortly after the midterm elections, I spoke to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/democratsofrossmoor.org\/\">Democrats of Rossmoor,<\/a>&nbsp;which counts more than 1,000 members and bills itself as the nation\u2019s largest Democratic club. It is based in Rossmoor, the 10,000-resident Contra Costa County retirement community. Its members are very engaged and are a prolific hub of campaign texting, postcard writing and phone banking, not to mention being a regular campaign stop for Democratic candidates passing through the Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the most unscientific of surveys, I asked the few hundred people gathered how many people thought Biden was too old to run. Roughly two-thirds of the hands went up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They aren\u2019t alone in feeling that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/12\/09\/majority-of-americans-dont-want-biden-or-trump-to-run-again-in-2024-cnbc-survey-shows.html\">CNBC poll<\/a>&nbsp;this month, Biden\u2019s age was the major reason 47% of those who think he shouldn\u2019t run \u2014 including 61% of Democrats and 66% of seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than 2020, when it was Biden versus the then-74-year-old Trump, the last time age was a factor for an incumbent president was back in 1984, when Reagan was seeking a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the issue came up in a debate against his 56-year-old Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, Reagan famously quipped, \u201cI will not make age an issue of this campaign&#8230; I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent\u2019s youth and inexperience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reagan\u2019s age at the time: 73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ten years later, he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganlibrary.gov\/reagans\/ronald-reagan\/reagans-letter-announcing-his-alzheimers-diagnosis\">wrote an open letter<\/a>&nbsp;saying, \u201cI have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer\u2019s Disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t Run Joe organizers aren\u2019t using Biden\u2019s age to make their point. Perhaps some won\u2019t because their favorite candidate \u2014 Sanders \u2014 is 81.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most, like New Hampshire\u2019s Liquori, their objections have to do with Biden not being progressive enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not going to attack Joe Biden because he\u2019s old,\u201d Liquori said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to attack him on policy because we think the policy can be better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Can progressives win nationally?<\/strong>&nbsp;The new HBO documentary \u201cPelosi in the House\u201d has a scene where Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the phone with Biden in the run-up to the 2020 general election. She tells him, \u201cDon\u2019t go too far to the left. You have to win the Electoral College.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pelosi later explained that it didn\u2019t make sense to try to \u201ccarve up a pie we don\u2019t even have.\u201d Just win elections, then figure out how to enact progressive priorities like Medicare for All.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Democrats have made little progress nationally in advancing universal health coverage and Biden \u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Explaining-the-Democrats-health-care-plans-in-14432653.php\">never a fan of the program<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 is unlikely to be the person to make it a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while the first two years of his presidency saw record investments in climate change policy, a cap on prescription drug costs and other movement on progressive staples, activists like Solomon feel that Biden could have pushed further, even with slim majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will be a very uphill fight. The Don\u2019t Run Joe movement doesn\u2019t have a lot of money behind it or many big names. It is hoping that the fears and frustrations around Biden running again will ignite a grassroots movement. Its fledgling campaign in New Hampshire \u2014 where Sanders won the most votes in the 2020 primary and Biden finished a distant fifth \u2014 is a good place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBiden is a roadblock right now,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cAnd our first task is to get the roadblock out of the way. After that happens, then a lot of possibilities open up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle\u2019s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-garofoli\/\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written By <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-garofoli\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Garofoli<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SFChronicle\/\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joegarofoli\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle&#8217;s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of &#8220;It&#8217;s All Political,&#8221; The Chronicle&#8217;s political podcast. Catch it here:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy &#8211; which he discussed on NPR&#8217;s &#8220;Talk of the Nation&#8221; after being told he couldn&#8217;t say the word &#8220;balls&#8221; on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/logos\/black\/logo.svg\" alt=\"San Francisco Chronicle Homepage - Site Logo\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/core\/hearst_newspapers_logo.svg\" alt=\"HEARST newspapers logo\">\u00a92022 Hearst<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Garofoli Dec. 18, 2022 (SFChronicle.com) Comments President Biden will take time over the holidays to decide whether to run for re-election. Meanwhile, there is already a campaign \u2014 with roots in California \u2014 that hopes he doesn\u2019t. Its name isn\u2019t exactly subtle: \u201cDon\u2019t Run Joe.\u201d Plot twist: It is&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/12\/18\/as-biden-mulls-his-future-a-progressive-group-is-urging-dont-run-joe\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24485,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24484\/revisions\/24485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}