Joe Biden no longer holds public office and entered the 2020 Democratic race nearly four months after some of his rivals. But his campaign schedule is remarkably light and he is less than half as active as his main rivals.
Since announcing his presidential run on April 25, the former vice president has held 10 total public events in five states. In the same period, Bernie Sanders has held 25 in eight states and Elizabeth Warren has held 23 in seven states.
The shortfall is even starker because since the end of the Obama presidency Biden has had no job, unlike Sanders and Warren, who represent Vermont and Massachusetts respectively in the U.S. Senate.
Another candidate with no job, Beto O’Rourke, a former U.S. Representative from Texas, held 16 events in Iowa alone during the period, with three more scheduled over the weekend, among a total of 27 stops in five states. Biden has held four events in Iowa.
Some critics have cited Biden’s age. He is 76 and first ran for office in 1970. He was a senator from Delaware for 36 years before spending eight as President Barack Obama’s vice president. This is his third White House run, having dropped out before voting began in the 1988 race and after securing less than 1% in Iowa in 2008.
But Sanders is a year older and Warren will turn 70 this month. As commander in chief, the schedule of President Trump, 72, is much more punishing.
Biden’s late entry into the race — Sanders declared on Feb. 18 and Warren on Dec. 31 — meant that he was expected to play catch-up by holding multiple public events a week. Instead, he has been courting wealthy donors at private dinners and cocktail receptions. His rivals in early primary states rarely ever cross paths with the current front-runner.
Supporters fret that his front-runner status is built primarily on name recognition and his poll numbers could fade once his opponents become better known. There have also been whispers about the stamina of a man who, if elected, would be oldest ever occupant of the White House and one who suffered two brain aneurysms in 1988.
“I really think he needs to get out there in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon told the Washington Examiner. “There’s nothing better than pressing flesh. His campaign thinks he can play it safe right now and I think that’s a bad excuse. It does seem like an old man schedule. Let’s face it, he is in his 70s. But he can’t do that.”
During a typical two- or three-day visit to Iowa, Sanders, Warren, and O’Rourke hold at least six stops for rallies or meet-and greets.
Last weekend, Biden skipped the California Democratic Party Convention, prompting his campaign to send a formal apology to the over 5,000 attendees at the three-day event in San Francisco.
“Vice President Biden called me personally on Wednesday,” said Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker, the state party’s temporary chair, at the time. “We had an 11-minute conversation,” she said. “He wanted to be here, but he is being pulled all over the place, as many of our top candidates are. And what he wanted to express to me is that California was very important. He’s been here. He will be here many times.”
That explanation wasn’t enough for activists in the state, leading one group to hand out fliers asking where Biden was while even candidates polling at low numbers, such as Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, could make time for the event. The obvious went laregly unspoke: Biden’s thin schedule meant he had ample time to go to California.
Biden won’t be attending this weekend’s Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration, an annual meeting of 1,500 activists and local party leaders, either. Local Democrats in the state describe the event as one of the most important stops for 2020 primary candidates. Nineteen Democrats out of the field of 23 will be there.
Democratic insiders tell the Washington Examiner that Biden’s lead in the polls isn’t something the campaign can take for granted, particularly when his support among primary voters is on a downward trajectory.
“Biden needed to be in California last weekend,” Bannon said. “You can’t miss things like this upcoming Iowa event. If he gets dinged up in Iowa and New Hampshire, it’s all over. He’s going to wake up one day and find his lead in the polls shrank to five points.”
For now, Biden remains the clear Democratic front-runner with 34 points in the RealClearPolitics average, ahead of Sanders at 17 and Warren at eight.
There are, however, warning signs. An Economist-YouGov survey released Thursday showed Biden polling 11 points ahead the rest of the primary field. While that number still presents a serious threat to his opponents, polls from May gave the former vice president at a 30-point advantage. A CNN poll on Tuesday showed Biden had lost seven points since he announced his candidacy.
