The focus is on Republicans when it comes to the 2024 presidential election

primary

politics: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will reportedly announce their bids for the party’s nomination next week, making it a six-pack of competitors against the damaged but still dominant Donald Trump so far.

In contrast, there is relative calm on the Democratic side, where President Biden has no major rivals for re-election. But the calm contradicted simmering fear. Almost a month after the president released the three-minute video confirming he is seeking a second term, he has not allayed doubts about his candidacy among party leaders and voters. In any case, concerns are mounting, stemming from his consistently low polls and the fact of his advanced age.

Media polls just before and after Biden’s announcement, for NBC News and for the Washington Post/ABC News, respectively, showed that more Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters opposed his rematch than for it. Democratic operatives are still privately speculating about younger, livelier alternatives and what-if scenarios. Biden’s less-than-apparent heir, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been excluded from the disability because she is even less popular than him in polls.

In his taped announcement, the president confidently proclaimed: This is our moment. Let’s finish this job. He hasn’t signaled since he flagged.

But let’s take a quick look at some of the emerging Democrats who may be missing

their

moment considering Biden’s search for four more years.

I keep thinking that as long as Biden believes he can do the job for another five and a half years until he’s 86! then he has earned his 2024 run. And yet the fact is that the Democrats have a deeper bank of politicians of potential presidential caliber than is commonly believed. A handful are now ready for prime time. A few could use a little more experience (although the same was often said in 2007-2008 by then Senator Barack Obama).

Being tops among the up-and-comers two new governors, Wes Moore and Josh Shapiro, which destroyed Trump-backed Republicans in November. Moore, an Army veteran from Afghanistan, former Rhodes Scholar, author, and investment banker, is Maryland’s first black governor. Shapiro,

former Attorney General of Pennsylvania,

won in its swing state

based on his reputation as a consensus builder and on his prominent role in fighting Republican efforts to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results.

Their time may come. But under those democrats Experienced enough now for the presidential arena are more experienced governors, including Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, both of whom impressively won re-election in their battleground states and have since gained national attention for their fight for abortion rights in their states. JB Pritzker of Illinois, the leader of the blue state for second term, a billionaire whose family owns the Hyatt chain, and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany, have similarly profiled themselves, speaking out against Trump and Republican extremism.

So there it is Andy Beshear, the popular Democratic governor in the very red state of Kentucky, who is running for re-election this year against a MAGA Republican, and Gavin Newsom, who

has

straight away

ace

Trump and, more recently, DeSantis. (Last round: Newsom sewn DeSantis on Twitter Thursday for Florida governor’s “bigorous policies” that led Disney to pull the plug on a Florida project: “That’s more than 2,000 jobs that will be welcomed with open arms to the Golden State.”)

Sens. Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, Colorado’s Michael Bennet, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, all ran in 2020 and remain viable, though it’s unclear how ambitious they remain for the top job.

Another possibility:

Widely respected for his work on racial issues, Mitch Landrieu, former lieutenant governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans, now oversees the implementation of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure initiative.

Democrats’ private talks about such alternatives are likely to last at least until Labor Day, when it will be almost too late to mount a serious presidential campaign. Still wringing their hand

will probably

carry on, revived with every presidential stumbling block, malaprop or other reminder of Biden’s age.

That’s what Democrats are best at, as even they will tell you: wringing their hands. But with a presidential candidate testing the actuarial tables, they have cause for concern. They can comfort themselves by thinking about future elections and their impressive contenders. But it’s a pity that they have to wait. And it could be worse than a pity in November 2024.

@jackiekcalmes