JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

President Joe Biden heads to Detroit tomorrow to rally supporters and address growing fears that he is not up to a second term. The presumptive but still not official nominee is trying to shift the narrative as calls grow for him to step aside in favor of a younger candidate. Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta brings us this political postcard from a critical swing state.

RICK PLUTA, BYLINE: Vibing and wish-casting seem to be the trending verbs of this week in national politics. That says some Democrats went into near-panic mode and projected possibilities of a new dream ticket. Ninety-year-old Tom Brush just wants the drama in the Democratic Party to calm, and he does not see that happening with the status quo.

TOM BRUSH: It’s a sad moment. And I was hoping that the president would realize that he really is – has some problems.

PLUTA: Sitting on his front porch in Ann Arbor, Brush says at his age, he gets that people slow down. And the retired attorney says he thinks it’s time for Biden to stand down.

BRUSH: If you are not being able to function at the top, you really ought to give yourself a break. And give the country a break and just step aside.

PLUTA: It’s not a surprise that Brush likes the idea of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as the stand-in nominee. She’s twice won the state by double digits and two years ago led a Democratic ticket that also captured full control of the state legislature for the first time in 40 years. Whitmer still publicly brushes off the idea of running this year but acknowledges Biden has some work to do to restore confidence in his ability to wage a campaign.

GRETCHEN WHITMER: I think Joe Biden needs to be Joe Biden. And showing up and connecting with people – that is who he is. It’s what he loves to do.

PLUTA: Even though Whitmer is a national Biden campaign cochair, she will not be with the president in Detroit. She’s heading to the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, an event that attracts Big Tech and entertainment figures. Washtenaw County Democratic Chair Theresa Reid will be heading to Chicago next month as a Democratic National Convention delegate committed to Biden.

THERESA REID: If he decides to run, we are completely behind him. Of course, we worry. You know, we worry about – everybody’s terrified.

PLUTA: Janet Cannon is a member of the Washtenaw Democratic Party Executive Committee and a volunteer organizer.

JANET CANNON: You need a prize fighter.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes, thank you.

CANNON: You need somebody who’s out there and just lands the punch.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That’s a great way to put it, yeah.

CANNON: I hope the surrogates are going to be able to do that because that one is one we don’t see President Biden doing.

PLUTA: Richard Czuba is a Midwest-based pollster who’s been running tracking surveys. He says Michigan is unusual in an already unusual environment. Not only is this a rematch between a current and former president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is also on the ballot. Kennedy was nominated by the Natural Law Party.

RICHARD CZUBA: From what I can tell, Kennedy specifically is impacting Donald Trump amongst leaning Republican voters, and it’s keeping Joe Biden at least in the race, at least competitive in Michigan right now.

PLUTA: But Czuba says his polls mostly show that here in Michigan, voters want something different than the choices they’ve been given. For NPR News, I’m Rick Pluta in Ann Arbor.

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