In the wee hours of Friday morning, not long after President Biden had walked off the stage from a disastrous debate, his campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, acknowledged in a series of private calls with prominent supporters that the night had gone poorly but urged them not to overreact.

周五凌晨，拜登总统从一场灾难性的辩论中走下台后不久，他的竞选主席珍·奥马利·狄龙私下与一系列重要支持者通了电话，承认当晚的辩论结果不佳，但也力劝他们不要反应过度。

Later on Friday, top White House aides worked the phones, with Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, calling the Democratic leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, to check in, according to a person familiar with the call. And by the afternoon, the Biden campaign had transformed its weekly all-staff call into a virtual pep talk to dispel any doubts creeping into the campaign offices in Wilmington, Del., and beyond.

据一位知情人士透露，周五晚些时候，白宫高级助手开始拿起电话，白宫办公厅主任杰弗里·津茨打电话给参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默报告情况。到了下午，拜登竞选团队已将每周一次的全员电话会变成了一场虚拟的鼓舞人心的谈话，以消除特拉华州威尔明顿及其他地方竞选办公室出现的任何疑虑。

“Nothing fundamentally changed about this election last night,” said Quentin Fulks, Mr. Biden’s deputy campaign manager, according to a recording of the all-staff meeting. “We’re going to get punched. We’re going to punch back. We’re going to get up when we get punched.”

“昨晚，关于这场选举并没有发生根本性变化，”根据全员会议的录音，拜登的副竞选经理昆汀·富尔克斯说，“我们会挨打。我们会反击。我们会在被打的时候站起来。”

The 48 hours after the debate were a frenzied campaign within a campaign to save Mr. Biden’s suddenly teetering candidacy, a multiday damage-control effort to pressure and plead with anxious Democratic lawmakers, surrogates, activists and donors to stand by the president, the party’s presumptive nominee.

辩论结束后的48小时内，拜登展开了一场疯狂的竞选中的竞选，以挽救他一夕之间岌岌可危的竞选资格，这是一项持续数天的损害控制努力，旨在向焦虑的民主党议员、代理人、活动人士和捐助者施压，并恳求他们支持总统，即该党的推定候选人。

After a frenetic run of seven campaign events across four states since the debate, Mr. Biden himself is taking a pause for a preplanned family gathering at Camp David. He arrived late on Saturday and will be joined by his wife, Jill Biden, the first lady, as well as the Biden children and grandchildren, according to two people familiar with the scheduling.

自辩论以来，拜登在四个州疯狂地参加了七场竞选活动，现在他自己暂停活动，前往戴维营参加预先计划的家庭聚会。据两位熟悉日程安排的人士透露，他于周六晚些时候抵达，他的妻子、第一夫人吉尔·拜登以及拜登的子女和孙辈将参加聚会。

The gathering, for a family photo shoot, was scheduled in the spring, according to those people. But the timing and circumstances of Mr. Biden being surrounded by the very family members who have been crucial in his past decisions to run for the presidency — or to sit out a race — have heightened the stakes and scrutiny surrounding the Camp David retreat.

据这些人说，此次聚会是为了拍摄全家福，行程是在春季就已排定的。但这次聚会的时机，加上拜登身边围绕着在他过往是否参选的决定中曾发挥至关重要作用的家庭成员，从而使得此次戴维营度假变得更为利害攸关，令其备受外界关注。

For now, the divide between the party’s most active supporters and its voters, who for more than a year have voiced concerns about the 81-year-old president’s fitness for another term, remains as large as ever. Some Democrats are bracing for a drop in polling after his shaky debate performance that could, they say, reignite calls to replace Mr. Biden.

目前，民主党最活跃的支持者和选民之间的分歧仍然和以往一样大。一年多来，选民们一直对这位81岁的总统是否适合连任表示担忧。拜登在辩论中表现不佳后，一些民主党人做好了面对民调数字下滑的准备。他们认为，这可能会重新引发外界要求更换拜登的呼声。

The all-hands efforts, from Wilmington to Washington, showed the depths of the damage Mr. Biden did to his re-election campaign in a mere 90 minutes. His campaign has been criticized as insular and insistent, so the burst of activity signaled that the debate fallout had turned into a real crisis that spun those in his orbit into a frantic battle mode.

从威尔明顿到华盛顿的全员努力显示，拜登在短短90分钟内对自己的连任竞选造成了多么严重的损害。外界本就一直批评他的竞选活动一味地自说自话，因此，行动的爆发表明，辩论带来的后果已经演变成一场真正的危机，使他的竞选团队陷入了疯狂战斗的模式。

Former President Barack Obama came off the sidelines to offer words of encouragement. Mr. Biden made a mea culpa of sorts on the stump in North Carolina at a proof-of-life rally. And prominent surrogates, including those on many wish lists of replacements, made the case for Mr. Biden on cable news. Some of the most intense advocacy unfolded behind closed doors, at private fund-raisers and in a flurry of late-night and early-morning conversations.

前总统奥巴马也下场了，开始给大家打气。在北卡罗来纳州的一场证明其生命力的集会上，拜登在竞选演讲中表现出了一定的自责。重要的代理人（包括许多外界希望能成为拜登接替者的人士）在有线电视新闻中为拜登辩护。一些对拜登最为激烈的支持是在闭门会议、私人筹款活动以及深夜和清晨的一系列谈话中展开的。

By Saturday, their efforts appeared to have successfully slowed the tide of prominent Democrats calling for Mr. Biden to step aside. The president, for his part, grabbed microphones at campaign events, telling supporters and deep-pocketed donors that he knew he had flubbed the debate. And he repeatedly tried to flip the focus back onto Donald J. Trump’s performance.

到周六，他们的努力似乎成功地减缓了许多知名民主党人要求拜登退出大选的浪潮。拜登总统则在竞选活动中拿起麦克风，告诉支持者和腰缠万贯的捐助者，他知道自己搞砸了辩论。此外，他一再试图将焦点转移到特朗普的表现上。

“I didn’t have a great night,” Mr. Biden told a group of donors in East Hampton on Saturday. “But neither did he.”

“我那晚的表现不算太好，”拜登周六在东汉普顿对一群捐助者说。 “但他也不怎么样。”

Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who hosted a private fund-raising dinner for the president at his home on Saturday evening, was among those receiving a call from a senior White House official.

新泽西州州长菲尔·墨菲周六晚上在家中为总统举办了一场私人筹款晚宴，他是接到白宫高级官员电话的人之一。

“It was acknowledging that they had a tough night and also acknowledging that we’ve got to remember that this has been a heck of a run the past four years, and we’ve got to keep it going,” he said in an interview, adding, “They have to hit the gas pedal hard.”

他在接受采访时说，“那通电话承认了他们度过了一个艰难的夜晚，也意味着我们必须记住，过去四年非常艰难，我们必须继续坚持下去。”他还补充说，“他们得用力踩油门了。”

At his event, which raised $3.7 million for the campaign, Mr. Murphy introduced the president as “America’s comeback kid.”

在这次活动上，墨菲为竞选筹集了370万美元，他将拜登总统介绍为“美国的东山再起之人”。

As some Democrats dreamed up ways to draft another candidate on private text chains and in quiet conversations, top Biden officials told nearly everyone that there was no viable alternative and Democrats needed to stay focused on the threat posed by Mr. Trump.

当一些民主党人在私人短信和私下谈话中构想另觅他人之道时，拜登的高级官员告诉几乎所有人，不存在可行的替代人选，并且民主党需要专注于特朗普带来的威胁。

Among those making the case were Mr. Biden’s top White House advisers — Mr. Zients, Bruce Reed, Anita Dunn and Steve Ricchetti — who dialed up a list of legislative leaders, top donors and others, according to multiple people familiar with the calls. Top campaign aides said Mr. Biden would need to prove that he could be vigorous enough for the rigors of campaigning. But they reassured their allies that they believed he would be.

据多名知情人士透露，提出这一观点的人包括拜登的白宫高级顾问——津茨、布鲁斯·里德、安妮塔·邓恩和史蒂夫·里凯蒂——他们拨通了议会领袖、顶级捐助者和其他人的电话。这些高级竞选助手表示，拜登需要证明自己有足够的精力应对竞选的严峻考验。但他们向盟友保证，他们相信拜登会通过考验的。

At a fund-raiser for House Democrats with Mr. Obama on Friday evening in New York, the overwhelming topics of discussion were Mr. Biden’s failure on the debate stage and how the party should respond. Along with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, Mr. Obama told donors the debate had been a tough night, but he emphasized the urgent task of defeating Mr. Trump, two attendees said.

周五晚上在纽约，在一场有奥巴马参与、为众议员民主党人举行的筹款活动上，当晚的讨论重点是拜登在辩论舞台上的失败以及该党应如何应对。两名与会者说，奥巴马和众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯一起告诉捐助者，辩论之夜的确很艰难，但他们都强调目前的当务之急是击败特朗普。

Some attendees blamed Mr. Biden’s aides for the debacle, arguing they should have never agreed to the format or to such a late start time. Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York said many donors urged the elected officials in attendance to pressure Mr. Biden to end his run for re-election. Mr. Meeks said he counseled donors to calm down.

一些与会者将这次失败归咎于拜登的助手，认为他们不应该同意这种辩论形式或是同意开场时间这么晚。纽约州众议员格雷戈里·米克斯表示，许多捐助者敦促出席的民选官员向拜登施压，要求他结束竞选连任。米克斯表示，他劝捐助者冷静下来。

“I agree that it was a terrible, terrible night,” he said, suggesting that some of that was because Mr. Biden tried to cram too much information into his answers.

“我同意那是一个非常糟糕的夜晚，”他说，并暗示部分原因是拜登试图在他的回答中塞入太多信息。

“Donors are very concerned,” Mr. Meeks said. “I had a number of them come and said that they were panicked, to be quite honest with you, that we had to do something, we had to do something now. And others who came up to me and said it would be a mess to do something now.”

“捐助者非常担心，”米克斯说。“他们中的一些人来找我，说他们很恐慌，老实说，我们必须做点什么，我们必须现在就做点什么。也有一些人对我说，如果现在采取行动，情况会一团糟。”

As Mr. Obama was trying to reassure donors, they were buzzing among themselves about an editorial posted online around the time of the event by The New York Times editorial board calling for Mr. Biden to step aside, according to two attendees. It followed other such calls from media figures Mr. Biden follows, including MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and the Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

据两名与会者说，就在奥巴马试图安抚捐款人的时候，捐款人之间正在热议《纽约时报》编辑部在辩论前后在网上发表的一篇呼吁拜登让位的社论。在此之前，拜登关注的其他媒体人士也发出了类似呼吁，包括MSNBC的乔·斯卡伯勒和《纽约时报》专栏作家托马斯·弗里德曼。

For months, Democrats have, mostly quietly, worried about Mr. Biden’s capacity for campaigning at his current age and governing until age 86 if he wins a second term. A full 45 percent of Democrats did not want him to be the nominee in the days before the debate, according to the latest poll by The Times and Siena College, worries that were most likely only deepened by his performance.

几个月来，民主党人一直在——大部分是悄悄地——担心拜登以目前的年龄是否能够胜任竞选，以及如果他赢得连任，是否有能力执政到86岁。根据时报和锡耶纳学院的最新民意调查，在辩论的几天前，整整45%的民主党人不希望他成为候选人，而他的表现很可能只会加深这种担忧。

Democratic officials were awaiting what the first wave of post-debate polls would show. For now, there seemed to be a sense among top Democrats that there was little they can do.

民主党官员等待着辩论后的第一波民调结果。而目前，民主党高层似乎感觉到他们能做的事情很少。

One of Mr. Biden’s top advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve relationships, said the idea that a younger candidate could replace Mr. Biden and still beat Mr. Trump in November was akin to a “D.C. parlor fantasy.” The adviser compared that hope to the speculation that Nikki Haley or other Republicans could have knocked Mr. Trump off the G.O.P. ticket.

拜登的一位高级顾问在要求匿名以保护其人脉关系的情况下表示，让一个更年轻的候选人取代拜登，并在11月击败特朗普的想法无异于“华盛顿会客厅里的想入非非”。这位顾问把这种想法比作尼基·黑利或其他共和党人能将特朗普从共和党党内选举中淘汰的猜想。

Several advisers said a second debate, scheduled for September, should still happen. They said the president should focus on asserting himself against Mr. Trump rather than trying to explain the full Biden agenda.

几位顾问称，原定于9月举行的第二场辩论仍应继续。他们说，拜登应该把重点放在抗衡特朗普上，而不是试图解释自己的全部议程。

The effort to stop Democrats from fleeing the campaign started before Mr. Biden had even finished his performance on the debate stage on Thursday night. Campaign war rooms established in Wilmington and Atlanta began pushing messages to reporters and surrogates, including that Mr. Biden had no intention of leaving the race.

拜登在周四晚的辩论还未结束，阻止民主党人放弃支持他的努力就已经开始。位于威尔明顿和亚特兰大的竞选作战室开始向记者和代理人推送信息，包括拜登无意退出竞选的消息。

The next morning, Ms. O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, marched through the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta, flanked by Mr. Fulks and the campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, to debrief some of the campaign’s most loyal donors.

第二天上午，在富尔克斯和竞选经理朱莉·查韦斯·罗德里格斯的陪同下，竞选主席奥马利·狄龙穿过亚特兰大丽思卡尔顿酒店的大堂，向一些最忠实的捐款人汇报情况。

Later in North Carolina, Mr. Biden closed a rally with an acknowledgment of his age and limitations, transforming a scheduled rally in Raleigh into a performance that could be clipped and blasted across social media.

随后在北卡罗来纳州，拜登在一场集会的最后承认自己老了，存在种种不足，将在罗利的这场集会变成了可以在社交媒体上剪成片段和疯狂传播的表演。

“I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to,” Mr. Biden said at the rally. But, he added, “I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul I can do this job.”

“我走起路来不像以前那么轻松了，我说话不像以前那么顺畅了，”拜登在集会上说。但他补充道，“如果不是真心相信自己能胜任这份工作，我是不会再次参选的。”

At 2:36 p.m. Friday, the Biden team got one of its most important boosts: A supportive message from Mr. Obama. “Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know,” Mr. Obama wrote on social media.

周五下午2点36分，拜登团队获得了最重要的支持之一： 来自奥巴马的力挺信息。“糟糕的辩论之夜时有发生。相信我，我知道，”奥巴马在社交媒体上写道。

“That statement was huge,” said Representative Ro Khanna of California, a member of Mr. Biden’s national advisory board.

拜登的国家顾问委员会成员、加利福尼亚州众议员罗·康纳说：“这番话意义重大。”

At the all-staff meeting on Friday afternoon, top campaign officials — Ms. O’Malley Dillon, Ms. Chavez Rodriguez, Mr. Fulks and Rob Flaherty, another deputy campaign manager — told the staff that they understood they were facing a deluge of concern and criticism from friends, family and fellow supporters.

在周五下午的全体员工会议上，竞选团队的高层官员——奥马利·狄龙、查韦斯·罗德里格斯、富尔克斯和竞选团队的另一位副经理罗布·弗莱赫蒂——告诉工作人员，很理解他们正面临着来自朋友、家人和支持者如潮水般的关注和批评。

“We’re not asking you guys to pull the wool over your eyes about what you saw,” said Mr. Fulks, according to the recording.

根据录音，富尔克斯对他们说：“我们并不是要你们对所看到的遮遮掩掩。”

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Biden aides called after the debate and emphasized the stakes of this election. She joined the president at an annual LGBTQ+ gala on Friday night in New York City.

人权运动主席凯利·罗宾逊表示，拜登的助手在辩论结束后打来电话，强调了这次选举的利害关系。周五晚，她与总统一起出席了在纽约举行的一年一度的“LGBTQ+”晚宴。

“People started to kind of swirl a little bit but at the end of the day we’re going to be looking at two choices,” she said. “Folks are coming back to a very pragmatic space and understanding what has to happen this election cycle.”

“人们开始有些躁动，但最终我们将面临两种选择，”她说，“人们正在回到一个非常务实的空间，并且理解这场选举必须发生的事情。”

The next afternoon, at a Saturday webinar organized to reassure Democratic National Committee members, the party’s national chairman, Jaime Harrison, spoke of the party’s field operation and the $27 million the Biden campaign had raised since the debate. He did not take questions, according to multiple participants, who said the committee’s views on Mr. Biden’s future remained mixed.

第二天下午，在周六为安抚民主党全国委员会成员而组织的网络讨论上，该党全国委员会主席海梅·哈里森谈到了该党的实地运作，以及拜登竞选团队自辩论以来筹集到的2700万美元。据多名与会者称，哈里森没有接受提问，而委员会对拜登未来的看法仍然不一。

Throughout the weekend, the Biden operation was eager to present a picture of a unified party — maybe too eager.

整个周末，拜登的竞选团队都在急切地展示一个���结的政党形象——也许过于急切了。

On Saturday afternoon, the Biden team sent out a fund-raising solicitation from James Carville, the Democratic strategist who has repeatedly argued that Mr. Biden shouldn’t be the party’s nominee.

周六下午，拜登团队向民主党策略师詹姆斯·卡维尔发出了筹款邀请，卡维尔曾多次提出拜登不应该成为党内提名人。

“What really just set me into orbit was the day after his excuse for not doing well is that he’s old. Well, that’s the whole point,” Mr. Carville said in an interview, adding an expletive. “It is safe to say there is a pushback, rally-around-the-flag moment here. But we’ll see.”

“真正让我绷不住的是，第二天他为自己表现不佳找的借口是他老了，好吧，这不正是关键所在嘛，”卡维尔在接受采访时说道，还用到了一句脏话。“可以说，现在出现了反对，一个团结一致的时刻。但我们拭目以待吧。”

As Mr. Biden swung through the Hamptons to gobble up cash at the home of the billionaire hedge-fund manager Barry Rosenstein, he addressed his shortfalls onstage. “I understand the concern about the debate — I get it,” he said. “I didn’t have a great night.” On his way there, his motorcade passed a group of people holding signs that read, “Please drop out for U.S.” and “We love you but it’s time.”

在拜登游走于汉普顿富人区，在亿万富翁、对冲基金经理巴里·罗森斯坦的家中拿下大笔捐款时，他谈到了自己在辩论台上的不足。“我理解大家对那场辩论的担忧——我明白，”他说。“我的那晚的表现不算太好。”在去那里的路上，他的车队经过一群举着标语牌的人，上面写着：“为了美国请退出”和“我们爱你，但现在是时候了”。

By Saturday evening, Ms. O’Malley Dillon wrote a memo accusing “the beltway class” of counting out Mr. Biden prematurely. “If we do see changes in polling in the coming weeks, it will not be the first time that overblown media narratives have driven temporary dips in the polls,” she wrote.

到周六晚间，奥马利·狄龙写了一份备忘录，指责“华盛顿政治圈”过早地放弃了拜登。她写道：“如果我们在未来几周内看到民调出现变化，说明这不是第一次媒体的过度渲染导致民调暂时下滑。”

She made no mention of the more than 50 million Americans who watched Mr. Biden’s sputtering performance in real time.

她只字未提有5000多万美国人实时观看了拜登磕磕绊绊的表现。