Iowa Democrats like Tom Harkin want Joe Biden to release delegates after debate 'disaster'

About 15 minutes into Thursday night's presidential debate, John Norris looked over at his wife, Jackie, and saw tears streaming down her face.

"It was painful for me, too," said Norris, half of the longtime Iowa Democratic Party power couple who have both worked on presidential and congressional campaigns. "My first question was, 'How do we do this?' There's so much to lose and the stakes are so incredibly high."

While many anxious Democrats expressed deep concern for President Joe Biden's candidacy after his first debate on CNN against former President Donald Trump, Iowa party leaders staunchly defended their candidate and attacked Trump on what another term would mean for the country.

Others said they hoped tough conversations were taking place about Biden stepping down as a candidate.

"I do believe Joe Biden puts the country first, but it's hard to walk away from the presidency," said Norris, Polk County's administrator who led Iowa presidential campaigns for Jesse Jackson and John Kerry while his wife was an Iowa political director for Al Gore, a campaign manager for Barack Obama and chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama.

"I just hope that's the discussion in the White House today, not 'how do we spin this?'"

More: Presidential debate reaction sparks talk of new Democrat on 2024 ticket. But who?

Tom Harkin calls debate 'a disaster from which Biden cannot recover'

Former Iowa U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, himself a former presidential candidate, had some of the harshest criticism Friday of the president, saying the debate was “a disaster from which Biden cannot recover."

In comments first published in writer Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck column, Harkin said Biden’s sentences were mainly incoherent and meandering.

“Whoever prompted him for this debate tried to fill his head with facts and figures Biden couldn’t remember, so he stumbled on these,” Harkin, 84, said in a note to family and friends that was later publicly released.

“Of course, Trump’s answers were meandering, gobbledygook and full of lies, BUT they were said with force and directness,” Harkin said.

Harkin said all incumbent Democratic senators should write to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the national convention can choose a new candidate.

“A couple of governors may need to do the same,” he wrote.

He said a new course would energize the party and capture voters' attention, “many of whom would like an alternative to Trump."

Iowa Democratic Party attacks Trump, ignores Biden performance

Biden received a clean bill of health in his last publicly released physical in February, with his doctor calling him "healthy and robust." But the 81-year-old president appeared frail and lost at times during Thursday night's debate in Atlanta, critics said.

His voice was soft and raspy, he stumbled and appeared to lose his train of thought when responding to questions, and he stared blankly at times into the camera while failing to challenge Trump in key moments of the debate.

Biden's advisers said after that he had a cold, and Biden himself tacitly admitted his lackluster debate performance in North Carolina Friday, CNN reported: “I know I’m not a young man. I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t talk as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job, I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”

In a statement released after the debate, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart mentioned nothing of Biden’s performance, underscoring only that the president stood in sharp contrast to Trump, 78, who “only cares about himself.”

“Trump continues to pose a serious threat to families in Iowa and across the nation, as he puts himself above American voters and our democracy, wants to ban abortion nationwide, and threatens access to affordable health care and to gut Social Security and Medicare," the statement read.

"Tonight, Iowans saw the stark contrast between President Biden’s vision for the future — building on his agenda of lowering prices, creating good-paying jobs, and protecting our fundamental freedoms — and convicted felon Donald Trump’s plan to give more tax breaks to his billionaire donors at working families’ expense.”

Bill Brauch, Polk County’s Democratic Party chair, said he stood by Hart’s statement.

Iowa Republican spokesman Luke Wolff said in a statement Friday the Democratic leaders' response to Biden's performance was deafening.

"What we saw from Biden last night on the debate stage was embarrassing for our country, and, frankly, sad to see," the statement said. "The monsoon of headlines from national media about Biden's clear decline confirms what Republicans have been saying for years now: Biden is unfit for office and cannot lead this country."

Biden already trailed Trump in key battleground states as he headed into the early showdown after more than a week’s preparation. His failure to reassure voters nine weeks before the national convention has set off panic, disappointment and frustration in some quarters of the Democratic Party.

“I don’t think it was his best performance, but I still prefer him over the alternative without a doubt,” said state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad of Des Moines, a Democratic Party delegate headed to the Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago. "This is where we’re at, and right now, we’re in a crisis."

Samad said leaders in both parties have put politics over people for a long time, leaving voters suffering and without solutions to important problems. But he said he didn't think Biden should withdraw his candidacy and allow another candidate to accept the party's formal nomination.

“As much as I follow politics, I don’t know who has the proven record to do that," he said. "You have to have somebody who shines and who wants the job. I haven’t seen anybody who wants the job. I couldn’t even give you a top three right now.”

Biden’s supporters have repeatedly defended his mental fitness to challenge Trump and lead the country over the next four years, challenging polls that suggest a Democratic defeat is likely.

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll published June 17 showed Trump leading Biden in the state 50% to 32% among likely voters. The poll results came two weeks after Trump was convicted in a New York courtroom of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a payoff to a porn star.

Biden performance may not change many voters' minds

It showed little change from an Iowa Poll in February in which Trump led Biden 48% to 33% among likely voters.

A CNN flash poll of debate watchers and registered voters found a strong majority thought Trump outperformed Biden, with 67% saying Trump turned in a better performance. Most respondents said they had no real confidence in Biden’s ability to lead the country.

But a majority who tuned in also said it had little or no effect on their choice for president.

Earl Agan, president of the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council, said he has met Biden several times and "he certainly didn't do well" during the debate. But he downplayed its import with union voters in Iowa, saying they tend to vote on issues, rather than the candidate, who is more of a figurehead.

The Des Moines 66-year-old also expressed concern for how CNN conducted the debate. Some chastised the news network for excluding other White House journalists and CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash for failing to do more fact-checking of the candidates in real-time.

CNN said Trump made more than 30 false statements during the debate, while Biden made “at least nine false or misleading claims.”

"To tell you the truth, if you watched the whole thing, it looked like a big setup by CNN to get rid of Joe," Agan said. "They had (California Gov.) Gavin Newsom on there before the debate and it was almost an hour after before they let (Vice President) Kamala Harris talk. Sure looked suspicious to me."

Jerry Crawford, a Democratic operative who worked on numerous presidential campaigns in Iowa, said he was surprised Friday how many top Democrats were openly talking about the need for a change in a Democratic candidate.

That decision, he said, "all starts and ends with the president. It's his decision to make. It would be a surprise if he steps aside. But I also think he is a profoundly decent human being who would put country before self every time."

Crawford said he thought the debate quickly devolved into a contest between "one person who told serial falsehoods fluently and another who told the truth very awkwardly."

But he said it would be a mistake to assume the debate marked an end to the contest. "Remember, in the (Hillary) Clinton-Trump debate, the Access Hollywood tape came out and everybody said it's over."

The tape, published by The Washington Post in October 2016, one month before the election, showed then-presidential candidate Trump and television host Billy Bush having a lewd conversation about women in September 2005.

Still, Crawford, who worked on campaigns for Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, said he does think it's appropriate for party leaders to take a hard look at Biden and his chances now.

Crawford said he didn't think there was one Democrat right now who would be a strong contender as the party's nominee, other than Biden.

"But I think there are people who could be."

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at [email protected], at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Democrats debate ditching President Biden after 'painful' debate