Biden should release his delegates — And we should remember Wendell Willkie
Willkie entered the race two days before the 1940 Republican convention, and won the nomination without running in a single primary.
“But if any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.” (Joe Biden on “Morning Joe”)
The obvious rebuttal to Biden’s challenge is that no other candidate could possibly win now, because a winning majority of delegates are required to vote for Biden on the first ballot. But Biden’s instinct for fairness was sound, as it often is, and he could make this challenge legitimate by releasing his delegates, and THEN encouraging other candidates to challenge him at the convention. The fact that Biden “won “ all the primaries doesn’t prove much, because no one was running against him, and no one had seen how poorly he now performs in the debate format. Biden now needs to prove himself all over again, by campaigning at the convention itself. He needs to show that he can convince the party’s elected representatives to choose him again, even when he is running against younger and arguably more charismatic candidates.