Their idea goes something like this, according to a memo shared with Semafor that has been circulated to Democratic donors and bundlers as well as officials within the Biden campaign and administration:

  • Biden would step down as the Democratic nominee in mid-July, and announce the new system, with backing from Vice President Kamala Harris.
  • Potential candidates would have a few days to throw their respective hats in the ring. The Democratic Party then would begin a primary sprint in which the six candidates who receive the most votes from delegates pledge to run positive-only campaigns in the month leading up to the convention.
  • The “blitz primary” would involve weekly forums with each candidate moderated by cultural icons (Michelle Obama, Oprah, and Taylor Swift are among the names floated in the memo) in order to engage voters.
  • The nominee would ultimately be chosen by the delegates using ranked choice voting before the start of the Chicago convention on Aug. 19.
  • It would be announced with plenty of fanfare on the third day of the gathering. The memo imagines the nominee unveiled on stage with Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

According to its authors, the country would be captivated. Donations would pour in. And Biden would be celebrated as a “modern-day George Washington,” the proponents argue.----

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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      5 months ago

      This is supposed to be serious?

      Right?

      According to its authors, the country would be captivated. Donations would pour in. And Biden would be celebrated as a “modern-day George Washington,” the proponents argue.

      And then everyone clapped. 🙄

      Seems more like they just want to throw a party and rake in donations than anything else.

      • dhork@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Don’t forget that Marianne Williamson is tied in with Oprah, too. She was on the Democratic primary ballot, although I think she got zero delegates. “Uncommitted” got more.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The biggest farce is calling this a “primary”. That implies that there is a chance the outcome may change. It wouldn’t be a Primary, it would be a Telethon. I mean, they admit as much: they focus on the fundraising aspect of all of it more than anything else and they plan to have celebrity hosts just like Jerry Lewis used to have on Labor Day.

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Or… Not? And we accept the DNC fucked the election by not insisting Biden stay out of it last year due to age.

    But that would require the octogenarians admitting they shouldn’t be running the country still and need to pass it on to younger generations. Instead they’re ostriches sticking their head in the sand and attacking anyone that even attempts to get close to suggest it.

    This is what we have. A shit old choice, or the total end of Democracy in the US. It’s not a hard decision, just the worst two option choice we’ve had in history, brought about by the party’s inability to admit we need to transition away from the two party system, something the founding fathers specifically wanted against.

  • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    We’re stuck with Biden. I’ll vote for him, am preparing for Trump. Fuck knows if we’ll make it through the next 4 years with the Republic intact.

  • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 months ago

    The nominee must be chosen by August 7th to be on the ballot in Ohio. The convention is too late.

        • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          You’re talking about the official plan, which is all well and good, but it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, which is a blitz primary.

          • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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            5 months ago

            If an alternate candidate is not officially chosen before August 7, they will not appear on the Ohio ballot.

            • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Well then, either A. We’ll have to win without Ohio, or B. Ohio can get their heads out of their asses and approve the primaried candidate post-deadline, or C. This won’t matter because the primary blitz is a hypothetical scenario.

              • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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                5 months ago

                Whether this hypothetical scenario happens or it goes some other way, it would be incredibly foolish and incompetent for the DNC to miss this deadline and just write off Ohio.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          How can that be legal? How can Ohio demand a candidate be official before they’ve been nominated? I don’t want Biden to die, but what if he’s nominated on August 7th and dies on August 8th? Does Harris automatically go on the ballot? Does a dead man stay on the ballot?

          • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            How? Fascist bullshit, that’s how. It’s basically heads I win tails you lose, except heads is the legalistic authoritarian frameworks abide and we get our choice of shit sandwich in the general and tails is complete collapse of the old republic into the new American unitary executive empire.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Is it? This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a state requiring a ballot be finalized before the convention.

              • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
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                5 months ago

                I meant that the candidate could die or otherwise have to drop out after the ballots are finalized. That is always an issue, in every election.

  • Wrench@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It’s funny how all of those “both sides” and “genocide joe” users that canvas lemmy with bad faith arguments are suddenly silent, now that Dems are scrambling to find a viable candidate.

    It’s almost like their goal was never to find an alternate to Trump and Biden, but to specifically make Biden lose so that Trump would win. And now that it’s happening, they’re sitting back and watching the Dems implode.

    Funny, that.

    • PeggyLouBaldwin@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      if their goal was to find an alternate to trump and biden, what do you think they’d be doing now? my guess is they’d be waiting to see if they can actually get behind whatever the dems do next.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        That’s a rather optimistic guess.

        Mine is that there is no viable candidate that would ever get their vote, and they’re just going to dump on whoever the next pick is (if Biden drops out) and continue specifically disenfranchising dem voters.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          5 months ago

          Oh fuck off. Polling shows how unpopular of a candidate Biden is just like Hillary was in 2016. How did that turn out? This isn’t some Lemmy conspiracy to tarnish the name of Joe Biden.

          The people disenfranchising Dem voters are the leaders of the Democratic party. They’re more concerned with fondling each other’s balls than winning elections and defeating Trump.