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WASHINGTON, April 24 (AP) — President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has been hidden in plain sight.
The outlines of Biden’s 2024 campaign, which will officially launch via video as early as this week, look a lot like his messaging and policy moves over the past few months: exaggerating his achievements in the first two years, in stark contrast to what he sees as extreme Republicans policy and allayed concerns about his age.
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Aides have argued that since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last year, Biden has essentially been campaigning with a focus on showing Americans how his administration can implement massive new infrastructure, technology and climate laws, and painting Republicans as A crucial battle is looming in Washington, dominated by the far right, over raising the nation’s borrowing limit.
While advisers say Biden’s activities and messaging in the coming months will be largely indistinguishable from what he has done in the past six months, as voters increasingly focus on the political dynamics of 2024, the frame of reference will inevitably change.
“President Biden is making a strong case for re-election before, during and after any official campaign announcement,” said Scott Mulhauser, a Democratic adviser and former Biden spokesman.
“Instead of throwing darts at the calendar, let’s focus on the president’s job and doing it well, from investing in a trip to America, a booming economy and historically low unemployment, to a home run at the State of the Union address, a masterful pull– Ukraine tour and more.”
“These economic and political victories are what success looks like, and how an incumbent president wins is far more important than a campaign launch,” he added.
Aides are planning to release a video of Biden’s launch on Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of his first successful campaign, but say the timing remains uncertain. It is unclear whether the president, who is spending the weekend at Camp David, has recorded it.
He is expected to pick Julie Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser, to manage his re-election campaign, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Biden took the time to formally announce his re-election bid not because he wavered from his commitment to running, but because there was little incentive to do so sooner, according to six aides and advisers.
Sitting presidents — with the exception of former President Donald Trump, who is applying for re-election on Inauguration Day — tend to delay the announcement as long as possible. Most felt it was easier to appeal to a wider population when they were observed outside the lens of electoral politics.
Aides say last year’s leaks and private assurances about Biden’s intentions for a candidacy were designed to reinforce to political circles that the president is committed to a second term and to steer clear of any serious contenders for the nomination. The effort has been largely successful, with only self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. launching mostly symbolic challenges to Biden.
Even if Democrats offer Biden a clear path to the nomination, Biden faces a more uncertain general election prospect, with the possibility of a rematch with Republican front-runner Trump or a handful of other Republicans who are part of the race. A new generation of leaders.
Meanwhile, congressional Republicans continue to bash Biden over increased government spending and inflation as they try to undercut him ahead of the upcoming election.
Biden’s decision to launch his campaign now is largely motivated by a desire to start fundraising: his last campaign raised more than $1 billion, and this time he needs to raise even more.
He is expected to kick off the effort with a gathering of top donors in Washington on Friday. The president also needs to start building digital and on-the-ground organizing operations in case aides expect a close election as the country becomes polarized, no matter who becomes the Republican standard-bearer.
Biden’s clear path to the 2024 nomination will be very different from four years ago, when he was written off by much of the political establishment until he solidified support as the candidate most likely to defeat Trump. The event is also taking place amid unusual restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, which have severely limited travel and in-person political engagements.
This time, Biden will have to juggle the challenges of running for office with the demands of governing. Aides and allies argue that those priorities are aligned.
“One of the best things that Joe Biden can do for re-election is to stay on as president of the United States, and when he’s touring the country, talking about what he’s accomplished and what he wants to do,” Eric Schultz said , a Democratic operative and spokesman for former President Barack Obama. “That’s exactly what he’s been doing.”
It’s no coincidence that Biden is expected to make the announcement during a busy week of his presidency — the timing is meant to highlight his focus on governing rather than campaigning.
Biden’s schedule this week includes a Monday meeting with Tennessee lawmakers punished for protesting support for gun control laws, a speech to unions on Tuesday, a state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday and a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the weekend. He will also continue to work behind the scenes with congressional Republicans on how to increase the nation’s borrowing authority.
At 80, already the oldest president ever, the president also knows he will have to contend with voter concerns about his job health. So far, he’s allayed those concerns by repeatedly telling voters to “look at me.”
Aides say he plans to launch a strong campaign when the time comes. Biden will step up his fundraising for the Democratic Party — and now for himself — in the coming weeks. But in terms of running a larger campaign, aides say Biden intends to follow a road map similar to that of Obama, who launched a re-election campaign in April 2011 but waited 13 months to hold it in May 2012 held his first official re-election campaign rally.
Still, Biden faces skepticism even from members of his own party. Only about half of Democrats think he should run again in 2024, even though a majority would likely support him if he becomes the nominee.
A recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 26% of Americans overall want to see Biden re-elect — a slight uptick from 22% in January. Forty-seven percent of Democrats said they wanted him to run, up slightly from just 37 percent in January.
For all the talk of staying the course, aides concede it’s not enough for Biden to focus on what he’s accomplished. He started holding events to highlight popular parts of his agenda that had been left on the cutting room floor during the Democratic Party’s legislative blitz over the past two years.
For example, Biden held a Rose Garden gathering last week to showcase his efforts to improve the affordability and quality of child and long-term care.
He also used his domineering pulpit to push for stronger gun control laws and codify the state’s abortion rights in the wake of recent high-profile shootings. Both proposals have the support of a majority of Americans, but they are unlikely to pass unless Democrats also win a congressional majority and re-elect Biden, his aides said. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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