Joe Biden launched his third bid for the White House on Thursday with a direct attack on Donald Trump, a gamble that ejecting the president is what most Democrats care about.
“The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America — America — is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States,” Biden said in his 2020 video, citing Trump’s response to the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va., two years ago between white nationalists and counter-protesters.
The former vice president’s opening salvo, presented as a direct-to-camera appeal, set the tone for a campaign banking on Democratic primary voters caring about dumping Trump above all else.
His strategy of framing his candidacy as a referendum on Trump, something Hillary Clinton tried in 2016, diverges from the approach taken by many of the other 19 White House hopefuls, who believe Americans want the party to reaffirm its identity independent of the incumbent.
“I think the other candidates have talked about it a little on the margins, but I don’t recall that anybody really kind of inked their first day of being a candidate by taking on the president like he did today,” Nexus Strategies’ Scott Falmlen told the Washington Examiner of Biden.
“Juxtaposed against the other candidates, I wished they were all focused on Trump,” said Falmlen, previously the North Carolina Democratic Party’s executive director. “The fact of the matter is that most of these Democratic candidates agree on most issues or the basic concepts of policies related to the issues that the American people are concerned about, and I do think that we need to take our fight directly to President Trump.”
Fellow contenders Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California have urged Congress to pursue Trump’s impeachment. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have hurled insults at the current Oval Office occupant, calling him everything from a racist to a bully, while others such as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas have drawn softer comparisons by arguing American greatness can’t be found in the past and that immigration isn’t a trend to be feared.
As such, Jesse Ferguson, another Democratic strategist and former DCCC deputy executive director, didn’t agree that Biden was the only presidential prospect taking a stand against Trump. Biden starts the process with name recognition that means he can catapult over the introduction stage to “phase two, the contrast to Trump,” Ferguson explained. The vice president’s rationale of seeking to defend core American principles has the added bonus of being a positive message about him and simultaneously undermining his opponent.
“It’s not a question of what a poll says about electability, it’s that voters want authenticity, and no one doubts that the reason Joe Biden is running is because of what he sees from Donald Trump and what he calls a battle for the soul of the country,” Ferguson said. “That reason may win you over and it might not, but no one doubts that reason is authentically why Joe Biden wants to be president.”
Biden’s attitude is most at odds with Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, whose theme is that love and unity can triumph over Trump in 2020. James Demers, a New Hampshire-based Democratic strategist and Booker supporter, defended his favorite by asserting each person vying for the right to challenge the president next year were differentiating themselves from their potential rival in their own way. “As campaigns begin, the candidates all focus on the end goal, but as the coming state primaries and caucuses take center stage, there will be a shift to policy discussions as well as the candidates making the voters aware of where they stand on key issues,” the president and CEO of Demers, Blaisdell & Prasol Inc. said.
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Biden is the front-runner, according to a slew of early polls in which his significant national profile likely plays to his advantage. But if the former vice president is right, his antagonistic posture toward Trump may pay dividends. A poll conducted for Morning Consult and Politico found this week that Biden held an 8% lead over the president in a head-to-head match-up even before he had announced.
When asked about the strategy by reporters Thursday, Biden said rank-and-file members of the party would offer the final verdict on its effectiveness. “That will be for the Democrats to decide,” he said.
Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, told CNN that his platform would balance his distaste for Trump with his vision for the future. “You know, I think voters are certainly looking for change. And I think in terms of values and vision for the country there’s nobody who is a bigger change from Donald Trump than Joe Biden, and I think you will see his affirmative case to voters,” she said.
