Why WAS Gavin Newsom conveniently front and center before AND after the debate defending Joe Biden?

After president Joe Biden struggled through the first presidential debate, California governor Gavin Newsom was front and center to defend the incumbent.

Biden, 81, fumbled and stumbled in the first presidential debate, losing his train of thought, sounding hoarse and searching for words as a composed Donald Trump swatted at his arguments.

While Newsom said that claims that he could replace Biden, 81, in November were 'farcical,' his appearance has sparked claims that the governor was placed in front of cameras as part of a plan to replace Biden.

Former pre-candidate for president Vivek Ramaswamy said: 'What we witnessed tonight wasn’t an accident, it was intentional. Brace yourself for a wild 5 months ahead.'

Ramaswamy has been floating around the theory that the Democratic party was planning to replace Biden since last year's Republican debates in November.

He said at the time, addressing the Democratic Party: 'End this farce today. 

'Joe Biden isn't going to be your nominee. We know he's not even the president of the United States. He's a puppet for the managerial class.

Have the guts to step up and be honest about who you're actually going to put up so we can have an honest debate. Biden should step aside now, so we can see whether it's Newsom or Michelle Obama or whoever else. 

Just tell us the truth'

Many have even theorized that the Democratic party wanted Biden to perform poorly all along to create an exit strategy that would see Newsom become the candidate.

Hedge fund manager Rod D Martin wrote: '1. The insiders knew Biden was like this. 

'2. They didn’t have to agree to any debate at all. They certainly didn’t have to propose and show up for the earliest debate in history. 

'3. So they humiliated Biden deliberately, but only after the primary voters get no say, yet early enough pre-Convention for the insiders to pick his successor before the fall campaign. This has been the plan for a long, long time.'

Progressive Bloomberg columnist Erika Smith argued Newsom has been running a shadow campaign as Biden's back-up, citing his debate with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

'He’s doing that thing that all presidential hopefuls do: He is working on a memoir,' Smith argued.

As DailyMail.com previously reported,  senior party leaders are privately pushing for Newsom or Michelle Obama to step in following Biden's disastrous showing on Thursday. 

Biden dismissed calls to leave the race last night - insisting the debate with Trump 'went well' - but behind the scenes the Democrats are in chaos with many pushing the panic button.  

It possible to replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee - but it is complicated due to a lack of time and the danger of civil war in the party.

The Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago from August 19 to 22. Each state sends a certain number of delegates to the national convention.

If Biden stepped down, the party would have to hold a series of votes among the delegates until one person got the 1,976 to be the nominee.

This would likely result in a massive floor fight for votes that would take place over multiple days and dominate news coverage.

Biden has 3,894 pledged delegates and it only takes 1,976 to be the nominee.

Under party rules, delegates allocated to a candidate based on their primary wins are bound to their candidate on the first ballot at the convention. And that first ballot usually ends up in a nominee.

So legally Biden's delegates have to vote for him.

However, if Biden were to drop out that would mean the nomination would be decided on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in August.