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https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/08/09/anita-dunn-no-regrets-biden-trump-debate-00173348
>Why Biden Was Really Forced Out of the Race, According to Anita Dunn
>The longtime presidential adviser blames the press and her party.
>Anita Dunn has no regrets about holding a historically early debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — and still disputes the notion that Biden’s performance was “catastrophic” for the voters he needed to win over.
>In an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast, the longtime Biden adviser recalled watching the debate while monitoring a group of undecided voters turn their dials in positive or negative directions as the event went on. And she said the results might surprise Washington.
>“Voters didn’t particularly like Biden’s performance in the first half hour. He wasn’t scoring well at all. But it’s not as though they walked out,” she said. “They very much liked a lot of the second half of the debate for Joe Biden. They hated Donald Trump.”
>But the fallout was devastating. If the campaign’s goal was to turn the race into more of a choice between Trump and Biden rather than simply a referendum on the president, it backfired.
>Still, even in the ensuing weeks, Dunn thought Biden could hold on.
>She had seen him at his political low point in the 2020 campaign — after he had lost the first three primary contests and looked like he was toast — and had helped him turn things around in South Carolina. In Biden world, the press, pundits and politicians always underestimated him.
>Indeed, Dunn and the Biden team thought they had seen this movie before. They developed a strategy to power through the media and party mob dumping on Biden, and race to the virtual convention vote, after which they bet that everyone would move on.
>But this time it was different. Unlike Biden’s core team, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama and Hakeem Jeffries were never convinced on the legend of Biden.
>Why Biden Was Really Forced Out of the Race, According to Anita Dunn
>The longtime presidential adviser blames the press and her party.
>Anita Dunn has no regrets about holding a historically early debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — and still disputes the notion that Biden’s performance was “catastrophic” for the voters he needed to win over.
>In an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast, the longtime Biden adviser recalled watching the debate while monitoring a group of undecided voters turn their dials in positive or negative directions as the event went on. And she said the results might surprise Washington.
>“Voters didn’t particularly like Biden’s performance in the first half hour. He wasn’t scoring well at all. But it’s not as though they walked out,” she said. “They very much liked a lot of the second half of the debate for Joe Biden. They hated Donald Trump.”
>But the fallout was devastating. If the campaign’s goal was to turn the race into more of a choice between Trump and Biden rather than simply a referendum on the president, it backfired.
>Still, even in the ensuing weeks, Dunn thought Biden could hold on.
>She had seen him at his political low point in the 2020 campaign — after he had lost the first three primary contests and looked like he was toast — and had helped him turn things around in South Carolina. In Biden world, the press, pundits and politicians always underestimated him.
>Indeed, Dunn and the Biden team thought they had seen this movie before. They developed a strategy to power through the media and party mob dumping on Biden, and race to the virtual convention vote, after which they bet that everyone would move on.
>But this time it was different. Unlike Biden’s core team, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama and Hakeem Jeffries were never convinced on the legend of Biden.
