Biden staying in the basement
Lack of in-person campaigning brings chagrin, defensive response
Joe Biden has no plans to resume in-person campaigning amid the ongoing pandemic, even as he faces concern and mockery from both Democrats and Republicans.
The virtual campaign Biden is waging from Wilmington, Del., is a stark contrast with President Trump, who is planning to travel. It also intensifies the spotlight on how Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, will manage his campaign, with some in his party fretting that he isn’t reaching enough voters.
For now, Biden and his aides are brushing back criticism and even mockery from Democrats and Republicans who argue that the 77-yearold is “hiding in his basement.”
“Voters don’t give a s— about where he’s filming from,” campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon told The Associated Press. “What they care about is what he’s saying and how we connect with them.”
Biden told ABC, “The idea that somehow we are being hurt by my keeping to the rules and following the instructions that (have) been put forward by doctors is absolutely bizarre.”
O’Malley Dillon took the helm of Biden’s campaign in mid-March, just as coronavirus shutdowns commenced. She recently beefed up the campaign’s digital and finance teams and said she’ll unveil battleground state leadership in coming weeks. She also pointed to budding “partnerships” that include the national party’s battleground state program.
The architects of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign have questioned Biden’s digital savvy and capacity to build the national vote-by-mail effort that might be necessary to win during a pandemic.
Obama allies David Plouffe and David Axelrod wrote in a recent New York Times oped that Biden’s home studios resemble “an astronaut beaming back to earth from the
International Space Station.” They encouraged Biden to make wider use of platforms from Facebook and Twitter to Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.
In a similar piece, Lis Smith, media strategist behind Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign, touted the virtues of localmarket media and using celebrities more on other platforms.
Yvette Simpson, who leads the progressive group Democracy for America, said she’s “very concerned” she cannot see “how we’re going to engage people.” She said the campaign has squandered time since Biden took command of the primary in early March.