Why wouldn’t he?
Joe Biden is adopting some of his former Democratic presidential primary rivals’ best-known tactics as he seeks to bridge the party’s gaps headed into his general election match-up against President Donald Trump.
He consulted with Pete Buttigieg as his campaign turned the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s “Rules of the Road” — a set of values for his campaign and its supporters — into Biden’s own new “Campaign Code.”
Last week he dialed supporters with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for whom the tactic — and the videos it helped produce on social media — was a keystone as she shunned traditional high-dollar fundraisers.
And he and Buttigieg hosted a virtual “grassroots” fundraiser, a small-dollar event modeled after the events Buttigieg often held, on Friday.
The efforts offer Biden a chance to tap into the popularity and excitement surrounding his former rivals. Part of the aim, a Biden adviser said, is to appeal to the cultural components of past campaigns that are important to those supporters while also maintaining an authentic feeling for Biden and his campaign.
It all comes as Biden’s campaign morphs from a largely offline primary effort, where support from older voters, especially African Americans, catapulted him to the Democratic nomination, into one that is attempting to unite the party and gear up for what the coronavirus pandemiccould force to be a general election battle that’s fought over the internet and airwaves.
“Our campaign continues to grow stronger because we are adopting some of the smartest, most effective tactics used during the primary, and we’re grateful to our friends on other campaigns who have helped us do that,” said TJ Ducklo, national press secretary for the Biden campaign. “It’s because of this kind of cooperation and unity that we will beat Donald Trump this November.”….
image…Scott Eisen; Mark Makela; Ethan Miller; Kimberly White; Kimberly White/Getty Images