Amie Parnes, Jonathan Allen say Democrats don’t realize how close their car was to being flipped by Trump train

President Joe Biden needed only 43,000 votes spread across Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin to win the last presidential election, Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen told a National Press Club Headliners Virtual Book Rap on Wednesday.

Parnes, senior correspondent for The Hill, and Jonathan Allen, senior political analyst for NBC News, are authors of the new book, "Lucky:  How Joe Biden Barely won the Presidency."

Lucky goes behind the scenes as the election process went on. The book can help you see what the future holds for both parties, Parnes said, while Allen added that it looks at how unique the Biden campaign was, noting it stuck to one basic point, that he was the best candidate to beat former President Donald Trump.

Asked by former Club President Jeffrey Ballou, who moderated the event,  why they titled the book Lucky, they said in such a close election you need luck and Biden talks about luck. 

Examples of the luck the Biden campaign had include the pandemic and a strategic mistake by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Biden advisor Anita Dunn said Covid was the best thing to happen for the campaign. As for Warren, she decided to attack former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg before the Nevada primary which helped Biden take second place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt. Second was the place Biden felt he needed in Nevada.

The Biden campaign lacked diversity among Biden’s advisors, Allen said, but Biden seems to want to help people across the country and he likes experienced people. The Biden administration has some young people. but they have little input into decisions. 

Asked how the administration is running, the authors said Biden has disappointed the progressives on some things and done other things they like.

Biden is very scripted, which has cut down on gaffes, the authors said. He has been in politics more than 50 years. so he sees no urgency to change his mind, Allen noted. 

Asked to make a prediction, Allen said that during the campaign the progressives stepped aside but there will be some ugly primaries leading to the midterms.