Gavin Newsom Will Take Your Biden Questions (and Try Your Doughnuts)

For a few minutes on Monday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California was just like any other politician with national ambitions, making his way through a small crowd at a rest stop in New Hampshire. He greeted local officials. He touched a baby. He was handed a cinnamon sugar doughnut.

“Everyone’s hyping these up,” he said, taking a large bite. “Actual real life, no B.S., not a politician talking. That’s next level.”

A television microphone intruded. “Governor, should the president step aside?”

Mr. Newsom chewed for a moment, reiterated the next-levelness of the doughnut, then turned to the microphone. “The answer is no.”

It was back to work for President Biden’s hardest-working surrogate. The half-eaten pastry was handed off to a local Biden campaign staff member. The doughnut would have to wait.

The stop in New Hampshire capped a days-long tour of battleground states on behalf of Mr. Biden, a trip Mr. Newsom described on Monday in almost evangelical terms: “I’ve got to get out there every day — every day — over and over and over, delivering the message of his accomplishments, but also a compelling future.”

In the 12 days since Mr. Biden’s debate performance threw his re-election bid into disarray, fissures of doubt have emerged in the party he rose to command four years ago. Democratic leaders, even as they call into cable shows and issue public statements of support for the embattled president, seem to be eyeing the exit.