Biden holds rally and sits for high-stakes TV interview as he seeks to recover from debate

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden held a rally Friday in Wisconsin before taping his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events that could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

In a clip of the interview on ABC's "World News Tonight," Biden took responsibility for his debate performance, saying it was "nobody's fault but mine."

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before sitting for the interview, Biden spoke at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, where he told an enthusiastic crowd: "I'm staying in the race."

Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and others also spoke at the event.

The White House said the interview team from ABC News “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

The big questions on many Democrats’ minds are: Were the frailty and incoherence he exhibited at the debate anomalies, or have they become common occurrences for Biden? Can he still mount a