Who could replace Joe Biden? Debate performance has Democrats in crisis talks

“Sleepy” Joe Bidengave the Democratic Party a wake-up call last week. And the concerns about the incumbent president’s age and mental fitnessare not going away.

Last week’s debate in Altanta, Georgia, was the president’s shot to bat away concerns about whether he can effectively serve a second term, one that would end well into his 80s.

Instead, apparently battling a cold,Biden appeared raspy and hoarse onstage, forgetting words at times and at other points seemingly losing track of his point altogether.

Democratic sources who spoke to The Independent and a wide range of other media outletsimmediately after the debate werein panic mode, with some openly fretting about whether it was possible for their party to do the unthinkable: replace a sitting, incumbent president on the ticket after he breezed through primary season virtually uncontested.

Five days later, the first sitting Democratic lawmaker came out with a public call for Biden to drop out fo the race. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Biden told an ally that he was weighing his future in the race depending on how well his public appearances go in the coming days.

So is it possible for Joe Biden to drop out? And who would replace him at the top of the Democratic ballot?

The short answer is yes, it is possible. But it would be messy.

Joe Biden is not technically the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Not yet.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is set to hold its nominating convention from August 19 to 22 — thousands of delegates, elected officials, union leaders, activists, party bigwigs, lobbyists and others will descend on Chicago for a four-day convention wherein Biden (or somebody else) will officially be nominated on the floor.

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