Democ­rats count on Biden bring­ing State of the Union per­for­mance to Trump debate

Democ­rats are bank­ing on Pres­i­dent Joe Biden deliv­er­ing a strong debate per­for­mance next month fol­low­ing an expec­ta­tions-defy­ing State of the Union that eased con­cerns about him lead­ing the 2024 tick­et.
Repub­li­cans have seized on the 81-year-old Biden’s gaffes and for­get­ful­ness to make the case he is men­tal­ly unfit for a sec­ond term. Those con­cerns were seem­ing­ly val­i­dat­ed when, weeks before the March State of the Union, spe­cial coun­sel Robert Hur judged the pres­i­dent would come across as a “well-mean­ing, elder­ly man” in his clas­si­fied doc­u­ments case.
Biden deliv­ered an ener­getic, stump-style speech that helped tamp down a brew­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic pan­ic. But the Biden cam­paign con …