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Facing calls from within his own party to drop out of the presidential race, today's high-stakes media appearances by Joe Biden were meant to reassure Democrats and voters he was still up to another four years in the job.
Instead, the concerns will only grow deeper after he made two embarrassing gaffes: mixing up Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, just hours after he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President Putin.
His first formal solo news conference after the disastrous presidential debate was to be another make-or-break moment on the world stage.
LIVE BLOG: Follow key updates as Biden faces press conference
Asked about what he thought of Harris' capabilities to potentially fill his shoes, Biden said: "I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President did I think she was not qualified to be President. Number one, I will start there."
Earlier, he mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin".
"I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination – please welcome President Putin," Biden said.
READ MORE: What happens if Joe Biden drops out of his re-election race?
The president's last similar outing came nearly eight months ago when he took questions from reporters after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California.
At that news conference, Biden called on reporters from four organisations, one of whom asked two questions.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre jumped in to end the news conference after the fourth reporter, though Biden proceeded to answer an additional nine questions.
Biden's most recent joint news conference was during the G7 summit last month.
Biden says he's 100 per cent in, even if some aides have private doubts.
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While Biden has expressed confidence in his chances, his campaign today acknowledged they are behind, and a growing number of the president's aides in the White House and the campaign privately harbour doubts that the president can turn it around.
But they're taking their cues from Biden, expressing that he is in the race 100 per cent — unless and until he isn't, and there appeared to be no organised internal effort to convince the president to step aside.
One reporter today quizzed Biden about his 2020 campaign position as a "bridge candidate" to pass the torch to a younger generation.
"What changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, our foreign policy and domestic division," he said.
"What I realised was my long time in the Senate had equipped me to have the wisdom to know how to deal with the Congress, to get things done.
"I got more major legislation passed that no-one thought would happen and I want to finish … to get that finished."
He suggested he'd remain in the race with democracy "under siege", citing the conservative Supreme Court and the spectre of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's return to the presidency.
READ MORE: Milwaukee radio station says it edited Biden interview after campaign request
"But the other reason why I didn't want to hand off to another generation, I have to finish this job," he said.
"I've got to finish this job because there's so much at stake".
His allies were well aware heading into the week there would be more calls for him to step down, and they were prepared for it.
It really is not clear how many lawmakers – or movie stars – it would take for Biden to reconsider his decision or if that number even exists.
Reported with AP, CNN
