Keller: Fear factor may be helping Biden hold the line with Democrats

The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.

BOSTON - Two big meetings were held in Washington Tuesday as House and Senate Democrats gathered separately to talk about President Biden and the future his candidacy.

Before and after the meetings, most of them are publicly supporting the president.

"We're ridin' with Biden"

"Was there more people saying Biden should step down or more people saying he should stay?" a reporter asked Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a key Biden ally.

Clyburn laughed. "We're ridin' with Biden," he said

Others less aligned with Biden, like left-wing Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, were notably more circumspect. "I'm listening to my colleagues and I'm listening to my constituents," she said.

And as of this morning, despite reports of widespread consternation in private, only six Democratic members of Congress have called for Biden's withdrawal from the race.

What are they afraid of?

"There's fear on both sides of the coin," says Bill Scher, politics editor for Washington Monthly magazine. "There's fear that Biden's going to drag down vulnerable Democrats. And there's fear about getting crosswise with the loyalists in the base who Biden is currently revving up."

"I am not going anywhere," insists Biden. Which means you can add in another fear factor - the fear that if you call for Biden's ouster but he survives and wins re-election, you might wind up on the outs with the White House.

Fear of speaking their minds about Donald Trump has been a hallmark of the GOP establishment. And everyone saw how Mitt Romney was marginalized in the Senate after criticizing, then briefly courting the president-elect.

"A complicated situation"

No wonder most Democratic pols are treading carefully. "If the president declines to leave voluntarily then he's going to be our nominee and we have to make the best of a complicated situation," said Rep. Richie Torres (D-New York) after attending the House meeting. "I'm viewing it pragmatically."

Some have suggested that if Biden is going to drop out and anoint a successor like Vice President Kamala Harris, he should do it next week to step all over the Republican National Convention. Scher thinks top Democrats want to handle the situation slowly and gently out of respect for Biden.

But the stakes are so high, I would look for another fortnight or so of polls. If they show the bottom dropping out on the incumbent, get ready for change. If they don't, it may mean the Democrats are in fact ridin' with Biden.