The Democratic Party faced a brewing crisis Friday as a wide range of lawmakers, party officials and activists began to actively consider what had previously been a pipe dream for pundits and worried voters: the prospect of replacing President Joe Biden on the ticket roughly four months before Election Day.

For two years, leading Democrats limited their concerns about Biden¡¯s performance and age to private meetings and off-the-record conversations, leery of undermining an incumbent president in a rematch against former President Donald Trump.

But with Biden¡¯s debate performance Thursday ¡ª uneven and at times incoherent, halting even on politically advantageous subjects such as abortion rights ¡ª that conversation has exploded into the public domain.