By means of Bernd Debusmann jr, BBC News, Washington
US President Joe Biden has hit back at criticism over his age, telling supporters in a fiery speech that he will win re-election in November, after a poor debate performance fuelled concerns about his candidacy.
“I know I'm not a young man anymore, that's for sure,” he said Friday at a rally in the state of North Carolina, one of the key election results. That was a day after he struggled in the televised showdown with his Republican rival Donald Trump.
“I don't walk as easily as I used to… I don't debate as well as I used to,” he acknowledged. “But I know what I know, I know how to tell the truth.[and]I know how to do this job.”
Biden, 81, said he believed with all his heart and soul he could serve another term, as the cheering crowd in Raleigh chanted “four more years.”
Trump, meanwhile, held his own rally in Virginia a few hours later, where he touted a “major victory” in the debate, which was watched by 48 million people on television and millions more online, according to CNN. “Joe Biden's problem is not his age,” the 78-year-old Trump said. “It's his competence. He's downright incompetent.”
The former president said he does not believe speculation that Biden would drop out of the race, saying he is polling “better” than other Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.
While questions about Biden's age are not new, his shaky performance during the debate — which featured verbal gaps, a hoarse voice and some hard-to-follow answers — raised panic among some Democrats, who raised new questions about his candidacy.
Democratic officials, political operatives and people close to the president who spoke to the BBC's Katty Kay painted a picture of an anxious party worried about the strength of their candidate.
Former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi said “from a performance standpoint, it wasn’t great.” Other Democrats, such as Biden’s former communications director Kate Bedingfield, called it “a really disappointing debate performance.”
Democratic donors who spoke anonymously to various media outlets were more candid, with one calling the performance “disqualifying.” “The only way it could have been more disastrous is if he had fallen off the stage. Major donors are saying… he should go,” a Democratic aide told the Financial Times.
And on Friday, The New York Times editorial board has called on Mr. Biden to withdraw. It said Democrats “must recognize that Mr. Biden cannot continue his race, and create a process to select someone more capable to take his place.”
Despite concerns from some media experts, early indications suggest there has been “no change” in polling in the aftermath of the debate, Washington Post columnist Philip Bump told BBC R4's Today programme.
However, Mr Bump pointed out that no “high quality” polls have been conducted since the debate aired.
Pollster Frank Luntz said later in the program that most Americans have already made up their minds about who they will vote for later this year.
But many senior Democrats and Biden allies publicly defended his performance as they tried to calm liberal nerves on Friday. Among those who threw their weight behind Biden was former President Barack Obama, who tweeted that “bad debate nights happen.”
“This election is still a choice between someone who has spent his life fighting for ordinary people and someone who only cares about himself,” Obama wrote, adding that Trump is “someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit.”
Mr. Biden and his campaign quickly rejected calls for him to step down as candidate.
“President Biden is the only person to ever beat Donald Trump. He will do it again,” a campaign adviser said. “This election would never be won or lost in one rally, one conversation or one debate.”
The Biden campaign also said the president had raised $14 million through fundraising in recent days, in an apparent effort to show it was maintaining momentum.
Biden is expected to meet donors on Friday and Saturday, including at events in Manhattan and the wealthy Hamptons.
