What we're covering
Biden will be joined by family at Camp David for long-planned photo shoot as questions swirl around candidacy
Trump campaign's plan to trim down GOP platform raises concern for conservative groups
Biden's campaign is working behind the scenes to keep Democrats unified
President Joe Biden’s campaign has worked feverishly behind the scenes to keep the Democratic wagons circled around the president, with advisers taking note of any current or former elected officials speaking ill of the president or publicly suggesting he should step aside.
Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who served alongside Biden in the Senate for decades, dashed off a pointed letter to friends after the debate.
“All incumbent Democratic Senators should write to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the convention can choose a new candidate,” Harkin wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN. “A couple of Governors may need to do the same.”
Harkin, 84, said there was still time for a course correction and a new Democratic ticket, which he believes “would energize the party at all levels and capture the general public’s attention – many of whom would like an alternative to Trump.”
Obama urges party to stay united: At a fundraising event in New York on Friday, where former President Barack Obama was raising money for House Democrats, whispers rippled through the crowd over whether Obama could implore Biden to step aside for the good of the party. Obama did not entertain such a notion during his brief remarks, focusing instead on the need for the party to stay unified, energized and focused on drawing a sharp contrast between Democratic and Republican rule.
For years, the relationship between Obama and Biden and their circle of advisers was strained by Obama’s decision to support Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2015 and urge his former vice president not to run. This moment “is even more fraught,” one longtime Obama adviser said Saturday.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz contributed reporting to this post.