Democratic money man who once claimed a 'dead Biden was better than a live Kamala' reveals the main reason Joe refuses to drop out of 2024 race, the huge mistake that haunts him and why the polls are wrong

A fundraiser and organizer of wealthy Democrats is dishing on why Joe Biden won't drop out of the 2024 election. 

Dmitri Mehlhorn, who organizes wealthy Biden boosters like LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, made noise last week when he said that either a 'dead' or 'comatose' Biden would be better than replacing him on the ticket with Kamala Harris.

Mehlhorn said in an interview Monday that Biden is still determined to run and win in 2024, that the polls saying the president is losing are wrong and what motivates him to stay in the race.

Biden, according to Mehlhorn, believes that his biggest mistake was being convinced not to run for president in 2016 so that Hillary Clinton could be the Democrat Party nominee. Many reports suggest Barack Obama was one of them.

'And he's right. We were all wrong,' Mehlhorn said. 'If he'd run in 2016, we would not be here. A lot of people - not us as much this time - but a lot of people made those same arguments to him in 2020 and he stubbornly, stubbornly resisted all of them. And he saved us.' 

Mehlhorn - often seen as billionaire Hoffman's right hand man - has previously said there's no point in trying to get Biden to drop out so he and his donors will carry on as they have previously. 

He told Drop Site News that in 2020, he 'refused to listen' to the naysayers and 'the world benefitted tremendously'. 

Mehlhorn then asked: 'So right now, who is he going to listen to? I believe that fundamentally, he is going to listen to voters.' 

He added that Biden might only step down if he 'were to plummet in the polls' and that hasn't happened yet. 

When it was pointed out by interviewer Ryan Grim that Biden doesn't seem to believe polling that suggests his approval rating is 38 percent, Mehlhorn gave a surprising answer. 

'I actually think he's right, and you're all wrong,' he said. 'There was a lot that Biden said that I did not like, but his answer about polling - actually, everybody's wrong and Joe is right. The polls are tied, they're still within the margin of error. That's what matters at this stage'

He suggested that at least five-point drop in the polls sustained over several weeks would be the kind of 'plummet' that takes Biden out.

'If you guys are right, how much should the polls drop? I mean, shouldn't they drop a lot? Shouldn't they drop more than two and a half points? Shouldn't Trump's odds of winning be higher than two-to-one if you're so right?'

Mehlhorn claims that ultimately, regardless of age or his claims that he needs to stop working after 8pm, 81-year-old Biden is the best man for the job and even suggests that he's 'working too hard'.

'The President has to be able to make tough decisions, and communicate them in a way that is consistent so that everybody understands. Right? My contention is that Joe Biden is as good or better on those two things than anybody else. And it's not getting worse as he's getting older.' 

He did somewhat back track from his claim to Fox News last week that swing voters would take a dead Biden over a living Kamala Harris.

'That is the level of confidence we have that if it's not Biden, it's Harris,' Mehlhorn said. 

'And I do believe that Harris can prosecute the case. Remember, in 2020, even as I was pushing Biden over Bernie, I was making a bunch of arguments about how if it is Bernie, here's the play, and he could win. If it's Kamala, she could win. She's a prosecutor, and he's a criminal. And if she picks the right running mate, that's cool, too. We'll go for that. But those are the choices and the alternatives.'

Questions over Biden's competency remain, especially after his first sit-down interview since the disastrous June 27 debate did little to assuage fears.

Several Democrats had called for Biden to quit the race following the debate and they reiterated this wish after Friday's ABC interview.

Monday began with the president striking a defiant tone in a letter to congressional Democrats saying he would not abandon his campaign.

Then he made a surprise call to MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' show to criticize elites that he said did not understand his support among the Democratic base.

He challenged the naysayers to run against him at the convention. 

'I'm getting so frustrated by the elites. Not talking about you guys by the way ... the elites in the party,' he said.

'They know so much more? If any of these guys don't think I should run ... run against me. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.'

The president is also banking on a Thursday press conference as a chance to show that he can still cope with the rigors and scrutiny of being president.