民主党担心选举失败，拜登面临新的退出呼声

【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 11 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）总统乔·拜登周三面临新一轮压力，要求他结束竞选活动或重新考虑竞选连任的决定，从好莱坞到国会山的民主党人都表示严重担心，拜登将在 11 月输给前总统唐纳德·特朗普，并拖累他的政党控制国会的机会。《纽约时报》记者安妮·卡尼（Annie Karni）对此作了如下报道。

加利福尼亚州众议员南希·佩洛西曾任众议院议长，是拜登的长期盟友，她公开发出了迄今为止最强烈​​的信号，表明民主党在拜登的候选资格问题上仍然存在分歧，并表示拜登“时间不多了”，无法做出决定。

现年 84 岁的佩洛西在 MSNBC 的“早安乔”节目中表示，她将支持拜登，“无论他做出什么决定”。

现年 81 岁的拜登表示，他已经下定决心继续竞选，并呼吁民主党人团结起来支持他。但议员们仍在为他的决定而苦恼，希望至少能继续讨论另一种道路，因为许多人担心总统会带领他们的政党走向选举惨败，可能需要数年时间才能恢复。

拜登挽救其候选资格的策略似乎旨在耗尽时间。他每天都在顶住压力，让接替他的后勤工作变得更加困难。周三，他似乎又熬过了一天，因为国会山仍然深陷不确定和分裂的状态，而议员们认为这是拜登竞选的关键一周。

人们的注意力转向拜登周四在北约新闻发布会上的表现，民主党人表示，这将是对总统继续竞选能力的关键考验，也可能是最后一次考验。

拜登的支持大坝似乎尚未崩溃，但一股反对的声音不断涌出。佩洛西发表评论数小时后，纽约州众议员帕特·瑞安 (Pat Ryan) 呼吁拜登“为了国家的利益”退出。瑞安是民主党最脆弱的在任议员之一。下午晚些时候，即将退休的资深进步人士、俄勒冈州众议员厄尔·布鲁门瑙尔 (Earl Blumenauer) 也表示拜登应该结束竞选活动。他在一份声明中说：“这不仅是为了延长他的总统任期，也是为了保护民主。”他们是众议院第八和第九位公开呼吁总统退出的民主党人。

到了晚上，第一位民主党参议员也加入了这一行列。佛蒙特州参议员彼得·韦尔奇在《华盛顿邮报》的一篇评论文章中写道：“我们长期以来一直要求拜登总统为这么多人做这么多事情。为了国家的利益，我呼吁拜登总统退出竞选。”

一些参议员似乎采纳了佩洛西的立场，认为总统仍需做出决定，尽管他已经明确表示自己已经下定决心。弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩呼吁拜登在做出艰难选择时保持正直，他认为拜登最终会“为国家做出爱国之举”。

其他人并没有等着他这么做。乔治·克鲁尼是一名演员，也是著名的民主党捐赠者，上个月，他刚刚在好莱坞为拜登举办了一场 2800 万美元的筹款活动。他强烈呼吁总统结束他的竞选生涯，称他​​近几周亲眼目睹了拜登的衰落。

“说出来很令人沮丧，但三周前我在筹款活动上遇到的乔·拜登已经不是 2010 年的那个‘大人物’乔·拜登了，”克鲁尼在《纽约时报》的一篇客座文章中说道。“他甚至不是 2020 年的乔·拜登。他是我们在辩论中目睹的那个人。”

克鲁尼说，每一位“我私下交谈过的参议员、国会议员和州长”都同意他的观点，即如果拜登成为他们的总统候选人，民主党将在 11 月失败。“我们的大多数国会议员都选择等待，看看大坝是否会崩溃，”他说。“但大坝已经崩溃了。”

（一位熟悉活动策划的人士在回应克鲁尼的文章时表示，总统在筹款活动上呆了三个小时，而克鲁尼则提前离开了。）

似乎是为了强调民主党人的担忧，无党派选举预测机构库克政治报告将六个州的选举人团预测转向了特朗普。亚利桑那州、佐治亚州和内华达州从“胜负难分”变成了“倾向于共和党”。明尼苏达州、新罕布什尔州和内布拉斯加州第二国会选区从“可能支持民主党”变成了“倾向于民主党”。

正在竞选参议院席位的密歇根州民主党众议员埃莉萨·斯洛特金周二在筹款活动上私下告诉捐助者，她的私人民意调查显示特朗普在她的州击败了拜登。在纽约，前众议院议员、现任副州长的安东尼奥·德尔加多 (Antonio Delgado) 呼吁拜登下台，尽管该州州长凯西·霍楚尔 (Kathy Hochul) 已将自己定位为拜登最大的啦啦队之一。

拜登在辩论中表现糟糕，引发了人们对总统的智力和竞选能力的严重怀疑，近两周后，他还没有参加议员们表示希望看到的那些高调、没有事先安排的活动，以缓解他们的担忧。

拜登定于周四参加计划中的北约新闻发布会，并于下周一接受 NBC 新闻主播莱斯特·霍尔特 (Lester Holt) 的采访。

白宫高级顾问史蒂夫·里切蒂 (Steve Ricchetti) 和迈克·多尼隆 (Mike Donilon) 以及拜登竞选团队主席詹·奥马利·狄龙 (Jen O’Malley Dillon) 也定于周四在特别党团午餐会上向民主党参议员介绍情况。他们将在那里面对沮丧的民主党人，这些民主党人私下和公开抱怨白宫没有采取足够措施让他们和选民相信拜登有一条通往胜利的道路。

他们出现在国会山可能只会引发更多疑问：为什么在参议院任职 30 多年的拜登没有亲自出席，向曾经是他舒适区的前同事发表讲话并团结他们。周三，拜登在华盛顿与工会领袖和外国政要会面，参加北约峰会，其中包括新当选的英国首相基尔·斯塔默，而议员们则大声质疑总统能否参选并获胜。

康涅狄格州民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔告诉记者：“我对乔·拜登今年 11 月获胜深感担忧。”他说，该党必须“尽快就他的候选资格得出结论”，但他重申他支持拜登作为该党的候选人。

但一群黑人民主党人和进步人士继续宣称他们完全支持拜登，并宣布关于任何候选人名单变动的讨论都已结束。“这件事已经结束了，”纽约州民主党众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯周二晚上表示。“拜登是我们的候选人。他参加了这场竞选，我支持他。”

但佩洛西的言论似乎是为了给惊慌失措的民主党人留出空间，让他们在未来几天做出转变，因为民主党内部对拜登是否可行存在严重分歧。

然而，这位前议长迅速否认了她本人建议拜登退出竞选的任何说法。

她在给《纽约时报》的一份声明中说：“总统很棒，我说的话有些失实。我从来没有说过他应该重新考虑他的决定。决定权在总统手中。我不知道《纽约时报》怎么了，他们编造新闻。这不是真的。”

当天晚些时候，她告诉美国广播公司新闻，她认为拜登可以在 11 月获胜。

科罗拉多州民主党参议员迈克尔·贝内特周二晚间接受 CNN 采访时表示，他认为拜登不可能击败特朗普——尽管他没有公开敦促拜登结束竞选活动。“我认为我们可能会输掉整场比赛，”贝内特说，警告总统竞选将出现“压倒性”胜利，并提到了国会两院。

他补充说，“自辩论以来，白宫没有做任何事情来表明他们有赢得这次选举的计划。”

本文最初发表于《纽约时报》。

题图：前众议院议长、拜登长期盟友、加利福尼亚州众议员南希·佩洛西公开发出了迄今为止最强烈​​的信号，表明民主党在拜登的候选资格问题上仍然存在分歧，并表示拜登“时间不多了”来做出决定。HAIYUN JIANG/NYT

附原英文报道：

Biden faces fresh calls to withdraw as Democrats fear electoral rout

By Annie Karni New York Times,Updated July 11, 2024 

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden faced a fresh wave of pressure on Wednesday to end his campaign or rethink his decision to run for reelection, as Democrats from Hollywood to Capitol Hill aired grave concerns that he would lose to former President Donald Trump in November and drag his party’s chance of controlling Congress down with him.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker and a longtime Biden ally, gave the strongest public signal yet that Democrats were still divided on Biden’s candidacy, saying that “time is running short” for him to make a decision.

Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Pelosi, 84, said that she would back Biden, “whatever he decides.”

Biden, 81, has said his mind is made up about continuing his campaign and called on Democrats to come together behind him. But lawmakers are still agonizing over his decision and hoping to at least keep alive a conversation about an alternative path, as many feared the president would lead their party to an electoral rout from which it could take years to recover.

Biden’s strategy to save his candidacy appears to be aimed at running out the clock. And every day he defies pressure to step aside makes the logistics of replacing him more difficult. On Wednesday, he appeared to have survived another day, as Capitol Hill remained mired in a state of uncertainty and division during what lawmakers had deemed to be a critical week for Biden’s campaign.

Intense focus was turning to Biden’s performance at a NATO news conference Thursday, which Democrats said would be a critical — and perhaps final — test of the president’s ability to stay in the race.

The dam of support for Biden did not appear to be breaking yet, but a trickle of dissent continued to seep out. Hours after Pelosi’s comments, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, called on Biden to drop out “for the good of the country.” By late afternoon, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, a veteran progressive who is retiring, also said Biden should end his campaign. “This is not just about extending his presidency but protecting democracy,” he said in a statement. They were the eighth and ninth House Democrats to make public calls for the president to drop out.

And by evening, the first Democratic senator had joined the chorus. “We have asked President Biden to do so much for so many for so long,” Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont wrote in an opinion essay in The Washington Post. “For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.”

Some senators appeared to adopt Pelosi’s stance that there was still a decision that the president needed to make, even though he has been clear that his mind is made up. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., appealed to Biden’s sense of decency in making a difficult choice, arguing that Biden would ultimately “do the patriotic thing for the country.”

Others were not waiting for him to do so. George Clooney, an actor and prominent Democratic donor who just last month hosted a $28 million fundraiser in Hollywood for Biden, made a powerful plea to the president to end his candidacy, saying he had witnessed Biden’s decline up close in recent weeks.

“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” Clooney said in a guest essay in The New York Times. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

Clooney said that every “senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private” agreed with him that Democrats would lose in November with Biden as their presidential candidate. “Most of our members of Congress are opting to wait and see if the dam breaks,” he said. “But the dam has broken.”

(Responding to Clooney’s piece, a person familiar with the planning of the event said the president had stayed at the fundraiser for three hours while the actor left much earlier.)

As if to underscore the concerns among Democrats, the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, has moved Electoral College projections in six states in Trump’s direction. Arizona, Georgia and Nevada went from “tossup” to “lean Republican.” Minnesota, New Hampshire and the 2nd Congressional District in Nebraska went from “likely Democrat” to “lean Democrat.”

And Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is running for an open Senate seat, told donors privately at a fundraiser on Tuesday that her private polling showed Trump defeating Biden in her state. In New York, Antonio Delgado, a former House member who serves as lieutenant governor, called on Biden to step aside, even though the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has positioned herself as one of Biden’s biggest cheerleaders.

Almost two weeks after the disastrous debate performance that surfaced serious doubts about the president’s mental acuity and fitness to run, Biden has not yet participated in the kinds of high-profile, unscripted events that lawmakers said they wanted to see to help ease their concerns.

Biden was set to participate in a planned NATO news conference Thursday and an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt the following Monday.

Senior White House advisers Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, as well as the chair of Biden’s campaign, Jen O’Malley Dillon, were also set to brief Democratic senators at a special caucus luncheon on Thursday. There, they were set to face frustrated Democrats who have complained privately and publicly that the White House has not done enough to reassure them, as well as voters, that Biden has a path to victory.

Their presence on Capitol Hill may only raise more questions about why Biden, who served for more than three decades in the Senate, has not appeared in person to address and rally his former colleagues in what was once his comfort zone. On Wednesday, Biden spent the day in meetings with union leaders and foreign dignitaries in Washington for a NATO summit, including Keir Starmer, the newly elected British prime minister, while lawmakers were left to wonder aloud about whether the president could run and win.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters, “I am deeply concerned about Joe Biden winning this November.” He said the party had to “reach a conclusion as soon as possible” about his candidacy but reiterated that he supported Biden as the party’s nominee.

But a group of Black Democrats and progressives continued to profess their complete commitment to Biden and declared the conversation about any change at the top of the ticket to be over. “The matter is closed,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Tuesday night. “Biden is our nominee. He is in this race and I support him.”

But Pelosi’s comments appeared designed to give alarmed Democrats, who so far are mostly falling in line behind Biden, space to pivot in the coming days, given the deep divide inside the party about whether his candidacy is viable.

The former speaker, however, quickly moved to walk back any sense that she herself was suggesting that Biden leave the race.

“The president is great, and there are some misrepresentations of what I have said,” she said in a statement to the Times. “I never said he should reconsider his decision. The decision is the president’s. I don’t know what’s happened to The New York Times that they make up news. It isn’t true.”

Later in the day, she told ABC News that she thought Biden could win in November.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday night that he did not think Biden could beat Trump — though he stopped short of publicly urging Biden to end his campaign. “I think we could lose the whole thing,” Bennet said, warning of a “landslide” in the presidential race and referring to both chambers of Congress.

He added, “The White House has done nothing since the debate to demonstrate they have a plan to win this election.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.