The media spent the last few months pushing the narrative that running to the left in the Democratic primary was the place to be…
Problem?
Almost the whole field went there….
THAT has played right into Joe Biden the centrist hands…
And Biden is keeps rolling along in the lead for the nomination and leading Donald Trump right now….
Not bad….
He brags about his ability to get along with Republicans. He’s not in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s good graces. His campaign has sent mixed messages on climate change and abortion funding.
If it seems like Joe Biden is running for the nomination of a different Democratic Party than the rest of his rivals, that’s because he is.
From his schedule to his messaging to his policy positions, the former vice president is carving a divergent path through the primaries based on a theory that few of his rivals appear to believe — that the Democratic base isn’t nearly as liberal or youthful as everyone thinks.
It’s a high-risk strategy at a time when the progressive wing is pulsing with energy. There is a danger of looking disconnected from the rising Obama coalition, or seeming to adhere to an outdated view of the party.
But so far it’s working. Since his April 25 launch, despite talk that his polling numbers would slide once he entered the race because he was out of step with the current party mood, Biden has instead led in every national survey. He sprinted out of the gate with a post-announcement 6-point bump and still hold leads in recent early state polls.
“He is keeping his eye on becoming the nominee. And the more important thing, if you do become the nominee, you have to win the Electoral College in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio,” said Jim Mowrer, who ran veterans issues in Iowa for Biden’s 2008 presidential race. “If you’re only speaking to a specific group in the Democratic party, those things are not going to be appealing to the general electorate.”…
image…Joe Biden chats with a construction worker during a visit to Boston on June 5. | Steven Senne/AP Photo
The point is not one or the other: you need both to reassure moderate-centrist soft Democrats or independents, and to rally the base so they work for The Ticket and don’t wander off into indifference or the third-party fairyland.
Barack Obama was able to do this; Al Gore, John Kerry (guided by Bob Shrum) and Hillary Clinton (guided by Mark Penn) were not.
Good point…
But I don’t think it applied so much to Hillary in the end…
She GOT a 3 million margin…
It was WHERE she lost by small margins…
In the end?
Sanders campaigned FOR HER….
In the end?
The Goal of WINNING should be of PARAMOUNT Importance!