Biden battles on in the hope he can turn around his Iowa nightmare
IN A small office, around two dozen firemen are busy preparing their “Firefighters for Biden” signs.
In the days ahead of Tuesday’s primary they plan to brave the snow and tour New Hampshire in a fire engine to campaign for Joe Biden.
The former US vice president needs all the help he can get. His White House hopes have been plunged into uncertainty after a poor showing in Iowa, where he came fourth.
He is banking on reversing his fortunes in the second state to vote for a Democratic presidential nominee to get his bid back on track.
Edward Kelly, general secretary of the International Association of Fire Fighters – a union that backs Mr Biden – rejects the criticism that has rained down this week.
“Joe is the best candidate in the race right now and he’s the only one that can compete with the president,” Mr Kelly tells The Daily Telegraph.
He dismisses the notion that Mr Biden, now 77, is too old for the White House after spending time with him on the campaign trail.
“I don’t think he’s lost his fast ball,” he says. “We’ve been with him and he’s as sharp as you can be.”
Mr Biden was front-runner in the race to be Democratic nominee from the moment he announced he was running. But being beaten in Iowa by progressive candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as fellow moderate Pete Buttigieg, has thrown his candidacy into doubt.
Polls show him trailing his rivals in New Hampshire, and his campaign is aware he must do better if he is to remain in contention.
He is trying to reset his campaign with a bolder strategy. After initially claiming things were going well, he admitted Iowa had been “a gut punch” and since then he has shown a more emotional side, opening up about his childhood stutter and the challenge it still poses. He has also taken aim at his rivals for the first time, suggesting Mr Buttigieg’s inexperience and Mr Sanders’ “socialist” label pose too great “a risk” in the fight to beat Mr Trump.
In particular, Mr Biden is staking his campaign on South Carolina, the fourth state to vote and the one which will offer the first real indication of how the candidates fare with African American voters.
“That’s the difference,” says Bill Mcquillen, another firefighter, who believes Mr Sanders and Mr Buttigieg will struggle in the more conservative southern states. Mr Biden’s biggest strength is his personal appeal as a “genuine guy”, he says.
They first met at a local event in the Nineties and became friends. Several years later, when Mr Mcquillen’s father died, Mr Biden called him to wish the family well. “He was vice president at the time and he was able to pick up the phone and call me. That’s the kind of guy he is,” he says. “He’s not looking for the headline.”
Mr Mcquillen says he has noticed a step change in the Biden camp since
Iowa. “I saw a different enthusiasm. His crowds have grown,” he says.
It is not just union leaders who are turning out for Mr Biden. His wife Jill has been hosting numerous events and the candidate has deployed a number of surrogates, including John Kerry, the former US secretary of state, to stump for him across the state.
But critics say no matter how hard his supporters work, Iowa exposed significant flaws in the campaign that cannot be righted overnight.
Mr Biden has underpinned his entire campaign on his supposed electability, but by rejecting that notion, voters in Iowa turned his greatest strength into a weakness.
But the firefighters union is still with him, believing he is the only one who can beat Mr Trump in November.
Mr Kelly is confident Mr Biden will do well in the later voting states, but is determined to do his bit to get him over the line in New Hampshire.
“We’re working for him and we think we’re going to make a difference,” he says. Campaigners will find out whether he is right on Tuesday night.