Forget "Plan B" of Replacing Biden, Instead Consider Plan C

WASHINGTON - June 30, 2024 - PRLog -- Following what most saw as President Joe Biden's "disastrous" performance in his debate with former president Donald Trump, and the "panic" it has reportedly caused within the Democratic party, many  have called upon him to step aside to permit someone else to head the Democratic ticket in 2024 - what is being called "Plan B."

But none of the leading candidates to replace Biden seem capable of tipping what is already a very close election away from Trump,

Furthermore, even among the front runners, both Harris' (https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-chances-beating-donald-trump-if-she-replaces-biden-polls-1918689) and Newsom's (https://www.newsweek.com/gavin-newsom-chances-beating-donald-trump-1918700) poll numbers are even lower than Biden's, and few of these 10 possible candidates (especially those with an executive rather than a legislative track record) have sufficient national name recognition to win.

Another major problem with having Biden step down is that the millions of dollars raised by the Biden-Harris campaign can't simply be transferred to another candidate, even if Biden requests it.

So perhaps Biden and the Democratic party should at the very least consider a Plan C - have Biden continue to run for president, but substitute Barack Obama as his running mate and candidate for vice president, suggests public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

The 22nd Amendment, which is most frequently cited as a bar to Obama ever serving as president again, doesn't - according to its carefully crafted and very narrow exclusionary language - Banzhaf suggests.

But this brings up the 12th Amendment which, Banzhaf suggests, likewise doesn't necessarily bar Obama from running for vice president alongside Biden.

That, at least, follows the view of a legal analysis just posted on the popular legal website AboveTheLaw (https://abovethelaw.com/2024/06/what-about-joe-biden-and-...), and earlier detailed constitutional analysis by other law professors (such as Dan Coenen (https://www.google.com/url?esrc=s&q=&rct=j&sa...), Michael Dorf (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/06/could-joe-biden-pick-barack-obama-as-his-running-mate-yes-but/), and Bruce Peabody (https://www.google.com/url?esrc=s&q=&rct=j&sa=U&url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1053%26context%3Dheadnotes&ved=2ahUKEwjg55LN6IOHAxU-GFkFHZyHA-IQFnoECAIQAg&usg=AOvVaw1DahKCYcADkNTjU4CDgeu1)), three former White House lawyers (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901572.html), and others, notes Banzhaf.

http://banzhaf.net/  jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com  @profbanzhaf