There's always an element of fun to a Democratic National Convention but it's rarely because of what goes on inside the convention center, where everything is more rehearsed and artificial than the set of "Eye Wides Shut" when Stanley Kubrick asked for his 47th take from Nicole Kidman. The real fun at the convention happens outside the hall, where the weirdos and radicals who gravitate to the Democrats like an event horizon let their freak flags fly in protest because the party is only 98% as weird and as radical as they demand.
But maybe not this time, as the White House scrambles to head off a growing revolt from some of Biden's delegates.
Politico's Jonathan Martin got quite the scoop late on Wednesday, reporting that "Biden’s aides are telephoning individual delegates to next month’s Democratic convention to gauge their loyalty to the president." That's according to three different delegates Martin spoke with who had all received what one Dem official called "a temperature check" from the Biden camp.
Don't ask where wobbly delegates got stuck with the thermometer.
Related: Biden Team Trying to Head Off Delegate Revolt at the Convention
The operation appears to be proceeding with the finesse we've come to expect from Team Biden:
One of them, however, was less intimidated than depressed about the state of the campaign after getting a second call from another aide reading the same script and asking about “concerns” regarding Biden’s nomination. “They clearly hadn’t marked down they had already called me,” said this demoralized delegate.
Martin wrote that he's "also learned of a group chat of a few dozen delegates who are organizing a letter urging the DNC to change the rules to make the nomination vote a secret ballot and free delegates to vote their conscience."
"Conscience" is a funny way to spell "anybody but Biden."
Previously on the Biden Campaign Collapse Tracker: When You've Lost Stephanopoulos...
The supermajority of DNC delegates pledged to vote for Biden in the first round was supposed to be his iron lock on the nomination, but it appears to be rusting.
Martin posted on X that after his article went live last night, "a half-dozen more Dem convention delegates reached out to me to relay getting the same call from Biden camp checking their loyalty."
The fears and doubts are hitting the Biden campaign where it hurts the most — right in the wallet:
A significant decrease in donations to President Biden's campaign, which significantly affects the conduct of the campaign. Those close to Biden: "The faucet is completely turned off, it's a disaster."
— Breaking News (@TheNewsTrending) July 10, 2024
Let me close today's Collapse Tracker on a bit of a tangent.
Bill Kristol — and I'll forgive you if you've forgotten who that is — took to X on Tuesday afternoon to present a hair-brained scheme to ditch Biden at the convention and nominate a winning ticket of... Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger?
I had to reply.
Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean you have to smoke it.
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) July 10, 2024
My little comment didn't go viral or anything but it did gain much more traction than a typical tweet does. What surprised me was how many Democrats and Lefties agreed. Because Left or Right, Republican or Democrat, everybody can agree that Bill Kristol must be high.
I'm bringing people together.
You're welcome, America.
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