Last week at this time counts were not yet complete in the Democratic primary elections held in Indiana, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and the biggest prize of the lot, Pennsylvania.
They’re complete now.
With the last of those counts finished Friday evening, former Vice President Joe Biden now stands with 2,136 pledged delegates, 145 more than he needs to clinch the nomination on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next month.
As we have previously reported, it’s one of the most remarkable comebacks in presidential election history. On the afternoon of February 11, when Biden tiptoed out of New Hampshire in humiliating defeat in that state’s first-in-the-nation primary, nearly everyone in politics and in the commentariat wrote Biden’s campaign for the presidency off.
But that was February. This is June. And it’s now Biden v. Trump – mano a mano – between now and November. The conventions are next on the calendar – in one form or another due to COVID. The Dems are set to gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17. The Republicans will meet in a city to determined – it was supposed to be and may yet be Charlotte, North Carolina – on July 24.
Last Friday, on the day that Biden clinched his party’s nomination, President Trump got some much-needed good news on the COVID-wracked economy. The Department of Labor reported that 2.5 million jobs were added in May. Experts had predicted a loss of some 900,000. The markets soared in response and the president lost no time talking about it.
This is a very big day for our country. It’s affirmation of all the work we’ve been doing – really for three and a half years – this isn’t just over the last few months, this is for three and a half years. And it’s a great thing. We were very strong. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. And that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic – largely through – I think we’re doing really well.’
Conventional wisdom held that a strong economy was always going to be President Trump’s ticket to reelection. That same wisdom holds that a weak economy serves as an opening for Joe Biden. In response to the unexpectedly strong jobs report, Biden spun it like this.
The fact is [there are about] 13 million fewer jobs today for American workers than the day President Obama and I left office. So, while it’s wonderful to see ten percent of the families who lost their jobs due to Trump’s disastrous pandemic response start to make their way back, the president’s behavior makes me deeply worried.”
The Democratic nomination is now settled. But much remains up in the air. Biden’s mental fitness remains in question. Top Dems are quietly worried about the three debates scheduled for this fall. And the economy’s continued recovery isn’t by any means a sure thing.
We have 20 weeks to go until election day. That’s a long, long time.