D-day for Biden as Obama adds to the pressure

JOE BIDEN was facing a crunch decision today as Barack Obama joined calls for the 81-year-old president to reconsider his race with Donald Trump for the White House.

- Jitendra Joshi

With Mr Trump further in the ascendant after the Republicans closed their convention last night, Democrat Mr Biden was hunkered down in his Delaware home isolating with Covid and consulting family and close aides in the build-up to his party’s own gathering next month.

After weeks of defiance since a disastrous debate performance, speculation that the president could quit the White House race as early as this weekend reached a crescendo after Mr Obama, inset, was said to have directly raised concerns to allies about his former vice-president’s viability.

That followed a private call to Mr Biden from former House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi. America’s first black president and first female speaker remain Democratic royalty, and both are staring at polls showing that with Mr Biden on the ticket, the party appears doomed to defeat in the battleground states that will decide the election on November 5.