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.

週五凌晨，拜登總統從一場災難性的辯論中走下台後不久，他的競選主席珍·奧馬利·狄龍私下與一系列重要支持者通了電話，承認當晚的辯論結果不佳，但也力勸他們不要反應過度。

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.

據一位知情人士透露，週五晚些時候，白宮高級助手開始拿起電話，白宮辦公廳主任傑弗里·津茨打電話給參議院民主黨領袖查克·舒默報告情況。到了下午，拜登競選團隊已將每週一次的全員電話會變成了一場虛擬的鼓舞人心的談話，以消除特拉華州威爾明頓及其他地方競選辦公室出現的任何疑慮。

“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，關於這場選舉並沒有發生根本性變化，」根據全員會議的錄音，拜登的副競選經理昆汀·富爾克斯說，「我們會挨打。我們會反擊。我們會在被打的時候站起來。」

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.

辯論結束後的48小時內，拜登展開了一場瘋狂的競選中的競選，以挽救他一夕之間岌岌可危的競選資格，這是一項持續數天的損害控制努力，旨在向焦慮的民主黨議員、代理人、活動人士和捐助者施壓，並懇求他們支持總統，即該黨的推定候選人。

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.

自辯論以來，拜登在四個州瘋狂地參加了七場競選活動，現在他自己暫停活動，前往戴維營參加預先計劃的家庭聚會。據兩位熟悉日程安排的人士透露，他於週六晚些時候抵達，他的妻子、第一夫人吉爾·拜登以及拜登的子女和孫輩將參加聚會。

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.

據這些人說，此次聚會是為了拍攝全家福，行程是在春季就已排定的。但這次聚會的時機，加上拜登身邊圍繞著在他過往是否參選的決定中曾發揮至關重要作用的家庭成員，從而使得此次戴維營度假變得更為利害攸關，令其備受外界關注。

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，民主黨最活躍的支持者和選民之間的分歧仍然和以往一樣大。一年多來，選民們一直對這位81歲的總統是否適合連任表示擔憂。拜登在辯論中表現不佳後，一些民主黨人做好了面對民調數字下滑的準備。他們認為，這可能會重新引發外界要求更換拜登的呼聲。

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.

從威爾明頓到華盛頓的全員努力顯示，拜登在短短90分鐘內對自己的連任競選造成了多麼嚴重的損害。外界本就一直批評他的競選活動一味地自說自話，因此，行動的爆發表明，辯論帶來的後果已經演變成一場真正的危機，使他的競選團隊陷入了瘋狂戰鬥的模式。

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.

前總統歐巴馬也下場了，開始給大家打氣。在北卡羅萊納州的一場證明其生命力的集會上，拜登在競選演講中表現出了一定的自責。重要的代理人（包括許多外界希望能成為拜登接替者的人士）在有線電視新聞中為拜登辯護。一些對拜登最為激烈的支持是在閉門會議、私人籌款活動以及深夜和清晨的一系列談話中展開的。

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.

到週六，他們的努力似乎成功地減緩了許多知名民主黨人要求拜登退出大選的浪潮。拜登總統則在競選活動中拿起麥克風，告訴支持者和腰纏萬貫的捐助者，他知道自己搞砸了辯論。此外，他一再試圖將焦點轉移到川普的表現上。

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

「我那晚的表現不算太好，」拜登週六在東漢普頓對一群捐助者說。 「但他也不怎麼樣。」

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.

紐澤西州州長菲爾·墨菲週六晚上在家中為總統舉辦了一場私人籌款晚宴，他是接到白宮高級官員電話的人之一。

“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.”

他在接受採訪時說，「那通電話承認了他們度過了一個艱難的夜晚，也意味著我們必須記住，過去四年非常艱難，我們必須繼續堅持下去。」他還補充說，「他們得用力踩油門了。」

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

在這次活動上，墨菲為競選籌集了370萬美元，他將拜登總統介紹為「美國的東山再起之人」。

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.

當一些民主黨人在私人短訊和私下談話中構想另覓他人之道時，拜登的高級官員告訴幾乎所有人，不存在可行的替代人選，並且民主黨需要專注於川普帶來的威脅。

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.

據多名知情人士透露，提出這一觀點的人包括拜登的白宮高級顧問——津茨、布魯斯·里德、安妮塔·鄧恩和史提夫·裡凱蒂——他們撥通了議會領袖、頂級捐助者和其他人的電話。這些高級競選助手表示，拜登需要證明自己有足夠的精力應對競選的嚴峻考驗。但他們向盟友保證，他們相信拜登會通過考驗的。

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.

週五晚上在紐約，在一場有歐巴馬參與、為眾議員民主黨人舉行的籌款活動上，當晚的討論重點是拜登在辯論舞台上的失敗以及該黨應如何應對。兩名與會者說，歐巴馬和眾議院少數黨領袖哈基姆·傑弗里斯一起告訴捐助者，辯論之夜的確很艱難，但他們都強調目前的當務之急是擊敗川普。

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.

一些與會者將這次失敗歸咎於拜登的助手，認為他們不應該同意這種辯論形式或是同意開場時間這麼晚。紐約州眾議員格雷戈裡·米克斯表示，許多捐助者敦促出席的民選官員向拜登施壓，要求他結束競選連任。米克斯表示，他勸捐助者冷靜下來。

“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.

「我同意那是一個非常糟糕的夜晚，」他說，並暗示部分原因是拜登試圖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.”

「捐助者非常擔心，」米克斯說。「他們中的一些人來找我，說他們很恐慌，老實說，我們必須做點什麼，我們必須現在就做點什麼。也有一些人對我說，如果現在採取行動，情況會一團糟。」

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.

據兩名與會者說，就在歐巴馬試圖安撫捐款人的時候，捐款人之間正在熱議《紐約時報》編輯部在辯論前後在網上發表的一篇呼籲拜登讓位的社論。在此之前，拜登關注的其他媒體人士也發出了類似呼籲，包括MSNBC的喬·斯卡伯勒和《紐約時報》專欄作家湯馬斯·佛里曼。

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.

幾個月來，民主黨人一直在——大部分是悄悄地——擔心拜登以目前的年齡是否能夠勝任競選，以及如果他贏得連任，是否有能力執政到86歲。根據時報和錫耶納學院的最新民意調查，在辯論的幾天前，整整45%的民主黨人不希望他成為候選人，而他的表現很可能只會加深這種擔憂。

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.

民主黨官員等待著辯論後的第一波民調結果。而目前，民主黨高層似乎感覺到他們能做的事情很少。

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.

拜登的一位高級顧問在要求匿名以保護其人脈關係的情況下表示，讓一個更年輕的候選人取代拜登，並在11月擊敗川普的想法無異於「華盛頓會客廳裡的想入非非」。這位顧問把這種想法比作尼基·黑利或其他共和黨人能將川普從共和黨黨內選舉中淘汰的猜想。

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.

幾位顧問稱，原定於9月舉行的第二場辯論仍應繼續。他們說，拜登應該把重點放在抗衡川普上，而不是試圖解釋自己的全部議程。

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.

拜登在週四晚的辯論還未結束，阻止民主黨人放棄支持他的努力就已經開始。位於威爾明頓和亞特蘭大的競選作戰室開始向記者和代理人推送信息，包括拜登無意退出競選的消息。

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，在富爾克斯和競選經理朱莉·查韋斯·羅德里格斯的陪同下，競選主席奧馬利·狄龍穿過��特蘭大麗思卡爾頓酒店的大堂，向一些最忠實的捐款人彙報情況。

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.

隨後在北卡羅萊納州，拜登在一場集會的最後承認自己老了，存在種種不足，將在羅利的這場集會變成了可以在社群媒體上剪成片段和瘋狂傳播的表演。

“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.”

「我走起路來不像以前那麼輕鬆了，我說話不像以前那麼順暢了，」拜登在集會上說。但他補充道，「如果不是真心相信自己能勝任這份工作，我是不會再次參選的。」

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.

週五下午2點36分，拜登團隊獲得了最重要的支持之一： 來自歐巴馬的力挺信息。「糟糕的辯論之夜時有發生。相信我，我知道，」歐巴馬在社群媒體上寫道。

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

拜登的國家顧問委員會成員、加利福尼亞州眾議員羅·康納說：「這番話意義重大。」

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.

在週五下午的全體員工會議上，競選團隊的高層官員——奧馬利·狄龍、查韋斯·羅德里格斯、富爾克斯和競選團隊的另一位副經理羅布·弗萊赫蒂——告訴工作人員，很理解他們正面臨著來自朋友、家人和支持者如潮水般的關注和批評。

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

根據錄音，富爾克斯對他們說：「我們並不是要你們對所看到的遮遮掩掩。」

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.

人權運動主席凱利·羅賓遜表示，拜登的助手在辯論結束後打來電話，強調了這次選舉的利害關係。週五晚，她與總統一起出席了在紐約舉行的一年一度的「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.”

「人們開始有些躁動，但最終我們將面臨兩種選擇，」她說，「人們正在回到一個非常務實的空間，並且理解這場選舉必須發生的事情。」

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，在週六為安撫民主黨全國委員會成員而組織的網路討論上，該黨全國委員會主席海梅·哈利森談到了該黨的實地運作，以及拜登競選團隊自辯論以來籌集到的2700萬美元。據多名與會者稱，哈利森沒有接受提問，而委員會對拜登未來的看法仍然不一。

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

整個週末，拜登的競選團隊都在急切地展示一個團結的政黨形象——也許過於急切了。

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.

週六下午，拜登團隊向民主黨策略師詹姆斯·卡維爾發出了籌款邀請，卡維爾曾多次提出拜登不應該成為黨內提名人。

“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.”

「真正讓我綳不住的是，第二天他為自己表現不佳找的藉口是他老了，好吧，這不正是關鍵所在嘛，」卡維爾在接受採訪時說道，還用到了一句髒話。「可以說，現在出現了反對，一個團結一致的時刻。但我們拭目以待吧。」

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.”

在拜登遊走於漢普頓富人區，在億萬富翁、對沖基金經理巴里·羅森斯坦的家中拿下大筆捐款時，他談到了自己在辯論台上的不足。「我理解大家對那場辯論的擔憂——我明白，」他說。「我的那晚的表現不算太好。」在去那裡的路上，他的車隊經過一群舉著標語牌的人，上面寫著：「為了美國請退出」和「我們愛你，但現在是時候了」。

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.

到週六晚間，奧馬利·狄龍寫了一份備忘錄，指責「華盛頓政治圈」過早地放棄了拜登。她寫道：「如果我們在未來幾週內看到民調出現變化，說明這不是第一次媒體的過度渲染導致民調暫時下滑。」

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

她隻字未提有5000多萬美國人實時觀看了拜登磕磕絆絆的表現。