Kamala Harris grapples with how to use Biden on the campaign trail
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Ms Kamala Harris and the people running her campaign plan to use President Joe Biden – but carefully, and in a targeted way.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON – As she abruptly went from No. 2 on the Democratic ticket to No. 1, Vice-President Kamala Harris had a decision to make: How should she deploy President Joe Biden on the campaign trail?
Given that Democrats had pushed Mr Biden out because of concerns about his age
Or should she continue to embrace Mr Biden and the more popular of his policies?
And on the most practical level: Where should Mr Biden go to campaign for her? How often? And what should he say?
Her answers are now starting to emerge. Ms Harris and the people running her campaign plan to use the President – but carefully, and in a targeted way.
The two will campaign together some, but not too much.
And Mr Biden will travel mostly to the important swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where he still appeals to white, working-class voters and union members.
“He gets an enormous amount of credibility in those blue wall states because he’s ‘Workin’ Joe Biden’,” said Mr Cedric Richmond, a former administration official who is now advising Ms Harris’ campaign.
“People are underestimating the Democratic Party’s love for Joe Biden. It just highlights how many different messages he can give and the different places he can go.”
That strategy will be on display almost immediately. On Sept 2, the President will join Ms Harris at a union-focused Labour Day campaign event in Pittsburgh.
On Sept 5, Mr Biden will be on his own in Wisconsin to tout his administration’s investment in communities there. He will also travel to Michigan with the same message.
Campaign advisers to Ms Harris and Mr Biden’s aides in the White House – who are carefully coordinating their decision-making – have decided that there is no real advantage for the Vice-President in making a clear, public break with the President or his policies.
Mr Ben LaBolt, communications director at the White House, said Mr Biden would be “leaning in heavily” on the effort to get Ms Harris elected.
“The schedule will be robust and he plans to leave it all on the field,” Mr LaBolt said.
In an interview on CNN on Aug 29, Ms Harris showed every indication that she intends to embrace her boss.
“History is going to show not only has Joe Biden led an administration that has achieved those extraordinary successes, but also the character of the man is one that he has been in his life and career, including as a president, quite selfless and puts the American people first,” she said.
But there are some risks to the approach. Democratic voters turned away from Mr Biden for a reason.
Large majorities said in polls that he was too old to be president for another four years, and there was an explosion of energy among rank-and-file members of the party once Mr Biden was pushed off centre stage.
Polls consistently show that many voters are not eager for a reminder of the past, whether it is a return to Trump’s presidency or Mr Biden’s.
The President’s approval rating in Michigan is just 38 per cent, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll in early August, and just 42 per cent across Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin combined.
As a result, people close to Mr Biden say he and Ms Harris are unlikely to campaign together much in the weeks ahead.
Campaign officials say they will “divide and conquer” by travelling separately to spread the campaign message.
Veterans of presidential campaigns in both parties said the trickiest part about deploying Mr Biden on the campaign trail is making sure that his message – and the way he delivers it – does not undercut Ms Harris’s all-important task of convincing voters that she represents a new and different future.
“The last month has shown you that the appetite for turning the page from Biden, while still genuflecting towards and appreciating what he did to win in 2020, is so hot,” said Mr Kevin Madden, who was a top strategist for Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign against then President Barack Obama.
“Every election is a contest for the future,” he added. “So they really do have to be focused on making a case for what Harris would do the next four years as president.”
Strategists for the Vice-President are aware that she also needs to quickly establish her own political identity, separate from her role as Mr Biden’s understudy.
In a more traditional race, that process would have been going on for a year or more.
But Mr Biden backed out just six weeks ago
The goal, several advisers said, is to have Mr Biden talk mostly about his record of accomplishments while in office: lower prices for some prescription drugs; investments in infrastructure and computer chips; an increase of 15 million jobs, including in the construction industry; and an economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
They also said Mr Biden can be helpful by continuing to do his day job, which they believe serves as a daily contrast to the kind of nastiness and chaos that permeated the White House when Trump was president.
“Biden can describe the mess and he can describe the clean-up in a way that no one can match,” said Mr Pete Brodnitz, a veteran Democratic pollster who is not working for Ms Harris. “I think that is really useful.”
Mr Biden’s conduct of foreign policy remains a tricky area, several strategists said. Ms Harris will be forced to answer for Mr Biden’s record, especially when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in ways that could upset some of her potential voters.
In the CNN interview, the Vice-President echoed Mr Biden by saying she was “unequivocal and unwavering” in support of defending Israel, while also saying that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed”.
On Aug 29 night, CNN anchor Dana Bash gave Ms Harris an opportunity to break with Mr Biden, asking whether she regretted saying that the President was “extraordinarily strong” right after the debate performance in June
Ms Harris declined.
“No, not at all. Not at all,” she said. “I have served with President Biden for almost four years now. And I’ll tell you it’s one of the greatest honours of my career, truly.” NYTIMES
