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WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is 76 years old and is subject to sometimes disjointed monologues with outdated references. But if his age and his missteps are supposed to be passive, they have not helped the rivals who tried to use them to their advantage.
The former Housing Secretary, Julián Castro, was the last to learn that this was the difficult way, directly aimed at the age and memory of Mr. Biden, during the debate last Thursday. It did not work for Mr. Castro – in the midst of a violent reaction, he lost critical approval over the weekend – and it did not work in the 2020 campaign.
While the young candidates presented themselves as agents of generational change, there are three septuagenarians who have distinguished themselves: Mr. Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, 78, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, 70, of Massachusetts. . They generated the most support and enthusiasm and ranked first in the polls as they challenged a 73-year-old president himself.
And neither their age, nor the sometimes uncertain performance of Mr. Biden, convinced voters to be behind other candidates perceived as unverified on the national scene.
"I ran a generational campaign to address issues that affected my generation and future generations," said California representative Eric Swalwell, who had previously focused his presidential campaign on gun violence and student debt. to withdraw in July. "These issues are really important, but beating Donald Trump is the most important thing that most voters want. I just felt that they were not going to roll the dice on a generational candidate. "
The debate last week has deepened the examination of age as a primary factor. A few days later, Mr. Biden, Mr. Sanders, and Ms. Warren were all asked if they would share their medical records – and responded that they would do it. Even a hoarse voice that forced Mr. Sanders to cancel certain events Monday and Tuesday was subject to speculation related to age.
The performance of Mr. Biden's debate again left him open to questions about his age and acuity. He has flouted the name of Moms Demand Action, the main gun control group in the country. He answered a question about institutional racism with a disjointed tangent that included the suggestion that parents "ensure that the recorder is lit at night". During the July debate, Mr. Biden forgot when he was directing voters to his website or if to receive campaign SMS.
Some voters have noticed. "I want Joe Biden to be able to complete a sentence better than me," said Melanie Gee, a retired 58-year-old antiquarian who attended a women's event in Birmingham, Alaska. "I do not think he's senile. I just think it's not as sharp as I want it to be.
Yvette Simpson, executive director of Liberal Democracy for America, worries about Biden's ability to "deliver a clear message at a time when a clear message is important to the American people."
But while Mr. Biden's mistakes have sometimes put him on the defensive, his rivals have struggled to frame them to reduce it and improve their own applications. Sometimes it's just look mean.
Mr Castro has fired the hardest blow so far against Mr Biden's abilities in a lively exchange on health policy during the debate. "You're already forgetting what you said just two minutes ago?" Castro said, repeating himself three times. This has had the effect of openly revealing a fact that is the subtext of the strategy of other candidates for months.
Later in the night, senator Cory Booker, from New Jersey, also expressed reservations about Biden, telling CNN that "at times, you listen to Joe Biden and you ask questions."
The attacks failed. On Sunday, Mr Booker dismissed his criticism of Biden – it was not the first time he had done it during the campaign..
And the Texas representative, Vicente González, has stopped supporting Mr. Castro for the benefit of Mr. Biden, partly because of the provocative questions of Mr. Castro at the debate stage, according to people close to his decision.
"If you vote at less than 10%, do not collect resources, break your party, and simply get your supporters mad at other candidates, it certainly can not be a good thing. . for our party, "Mr Gonzalez told CNN on Sunday, citing Mr Castro's attack.
At the same time, Mr Biden's supporters protect him when he is confronted with questions about his age. Former California senator Barbara Boxer, who is neutral at the 2020 primary, said criticism of Biden's age was "ageist."
"He started very hard and over the years he was trying to enter also many things, too many facts, "said Boxer, 78, about the outcome of Biden's debate. "It's very hard to stay there for three hours. I do not care if you're 55 years old. "
"These are just political attacks, people are currently trying to find a way to overthrow the leader," said Sunday Senator Alabama's Doug Jones, after attending a church service with Mr. Biden, that he supports. "Joe will be Joe. And that's why people love him and know his story. "
There was a clear recalibration among the second-tier candidates, who seem to have realized that clearly drawing their age contrasted with Mr. Biden – as mayor Pete Buttigieg, of South Bend, in Indiana, had been doing it since the beginning of his campaign. It's a losing strategy.
And all of Mr. Biden's younger rivals are in no hurry to point out their age difference. Beast O 'Rourke said on Sunday: "Meet the press." "The last thing that matters is Joe Biden's age."
For Biden, voters do not raise any more concerns than his age, a topic that Mr. Biden himself called fair play. When asked by reporters, he often asks voters to monitor him in action on the trail, where he demonstrated physical strength by running through parades or staying late in the evening for shaking hands.
In July, Dr. Biden's doctor stated that he was inexcellent physical condition.
Black voters, who are a critical block of Biden's support, are not punishing him for his age, said Adrianne Shropshire, Executive Director of BlackPAC, a super PAC focused on African-American Democrats. The black electorate of the primary population is older and friendly at Biden's age, she said.
"Many age critics focus on cultural issues, record players and texting, with which many of these voters also struggle, but do not consider it disqualifying," Shropshire said.
Mr. Sanders, who is 15 months older than Mr. Biden, and Ms. Warren are not subjected to scrutiny of their age regarding their age, although some voters admit at their events that they would like to see a young elected President.
The events of Mr. Sanders are a matter of high energy, punctuated by the Senator waving his arms frequently to emphasize his points. It also helps that he rarely deviates themes in his stump speech, which gives him far fewer opportunities to make blunders out of the blue.
Still, he lost his voice during an election campaign in Iowa and Colorado last week – a fact that has become evident to millions of people watching the debate last week.
"I've somehow lost my voice somewhere in Colorado and I hope I do not have to go back there immediately to find her," he joked Saturday in Las Vegas.
Some members of the Sanders team have privately acknowledged that his curse is not his best appearance. The Sanders campaign halted Monday and Tuesday a planned movement in South Carolina. The campaign said that he felt "good" but that he would be returning to Vermont to "rest his vocal cords".
Of the three 70-year-old candidates at the polls, Mrs. Warren is the most crisp when she addresses the crowds and asks questions on the debate scene.
"The medical records will be there, and everyone is invited to consult them," she said. "And what I hope is that we are going to be able to do a lot more town halls here, and more after that."
If Warren wants her public meetings and public appearances to speak for herself about her endurance, she is probably aware that her entries and exits are part of the case. She sprints as she participates in campaign events. A video of her jogging on a grassy field at an event in New Hampshire last month became viral, and she was even filmed running in Penn Station in New York to catch a train earlier this year.
"Age is a figurehead," said Harry Reid, 79-year-old former leader of the Senate Democratic Party. "I think it's an exaggeration to start wiping people off the list because they're 70 years old."
Katie Glueck and Lisa Lerer have written reports from Birmingham, Alabama, Sydney Ember, reports from Las Vegas and Thomas Kaplan from Washington.
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