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In his first few days as an official candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden opened a significant lead in the national polls, posted the record for total fundraising in one day and demonstrated his ability to shake President Trump.
His surprisingly strong debut sparked alarms in opposing camps, pushing his rivals to recalibrate their strategies for the next phase of the main fight.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Took the most spectacular action by making the personal decision to contrast his political background with that of Biden. Sanders' advisers said he plans to build on this momentum, and his campaign manager has appealed to candidates who were left out.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Raised funds from Biden, thanking him for asking rich benefactor's checks. She also noted during a questioning that he had sided with the credit card companies in a key legislative battle.
Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) Seized Trump for calling her "nasty" by turning it into a rallying cry in social media ads that was intended to demonstrate that Biden n & # 39; He is not the only candidate capable of provoking the president.
"It had an attractive effect on the other candidates," said James Carville, a longtime Democratic strategist who worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.
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Biden took advantage of the momentum of the 2020 primary season: Democrats presented the most diverse list of candidates in history, stirring enthusiasm across the party, as evidenced by the crowds gathered at their events and donations paid during their campaigns. But no outstanding results emerged with the remaining power, creating the void in which Biden, who is well known and attached to the last winning Democrat at the White House, slipped.
Sanders has proven that he has always had a loyal following since 2016, but he was struggling to expand his base. Harris attracted 20,000 people before its launch but was unable to maintain momentum before his well-received and televised interrogation by Attorney General William P. Barr. Warren's detailed policy package has impressed activists, but it has not yet resulted in a large increase in polls. Former Texas representative Beto O'Rourke has amassed tons of money on his first day but has yet to regain the viral enthusiasm created during his 2018 Senate race. Mayor Pete Buttigieg South Bend, in Indiana, came out of the dark, but has not yet been tested and has not yet expanded its campaign deeper into the early states. All candidates are turning to the debates that begin in June to offer what they hope will be a good time.
It is not yet clear whether Biden himself will be able to retain his provisional position on the race; The state-wide polls in the early states show it to be in a weaker position than the national surveys and its early events demonstrate its limitations as a candidate. His speeches were often sinuous and his assistants severely restricted access to him – he did not answer voters' questions – a style of campaign that could turn against states where people are used to taking close to the measure of their options.
"People know him and he is comfortable with him," said Rob Hogg, Senator of the State of Iowa. "But I do not think it's an agreement made for Joe Biden." He added: "There is a lot of interest for someone new, in the coming generation."
Former Vice President Joe Biden's address to Iowa voters at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Melina Mara / The Washington Post )
Newly-arrived candidates on the national scene were somewhat blunted by the presence of Sanders, second to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic contest and, like Biden, in his seventies. For both strategic and ideological reasons, he became the sharpest critic of Biden.
Sanders has jumped on the occasion in recent days to compare himself to Biden on far-reaching Free Trade Agreements and the war in Iraq – which he has opposed and which Biden has argued. The strategy is similar to the one he had adopted against Clinton in 2016, when he had ruthlessly hammered the settlement leader against their policy differences and exposed the left turn of many. Democratic voters.
Sanders' advisers say that he's just getting started.
"Senator Sanders has always been consistent in the issues that he has raised," said Faiz Shakir, campaign manager for Sanders. "And frankly, on many of these issues. . . Biden is deceived in the first instance.
As for the rest of the pack, Shakir said, "I'm not sure that many of them are so different" from Biden. He added, "If you are not interested in the contrast, agree, it certainly tells us less than there is a distinction."
The split of Biden-Sanders embodies a wider democratic divide. While some believe that the return to power lies in the political revolution that Sanders is pleading, others believe that a better bet to defeat Trump is Biden's pretext for restoring a more conventional policy from the Obama era.
Biden and Sanders represent the same side of another democratic divide: both face a group of younger, more recent candidates for elective positions whose racial and gender diversity better reflect the changing country. Yet, although they come from different ideological currents, the two men are fighting over the same voters: Whites from the working class of the US Upper Midwest states, which Trump has won.
After an impressive start, Sanders dipped a bit into the polls. His crowds have declined in recent weeks. He had trouble attracting non-white voters. And an important part of the Democratic Party does not like it and does not doubt that it would beat Trump.
"It's an angry old man running against Donald Trump, who is an angry old man," said Jim Messina, head of Barack Obama's 2012 election campaign. "This is not a contrast . "
The added pressure of having Biden in the race was apparent at a Sanders rally held at Iowa State University on Saturday. Ron Craig, a 62-year-old undecided voter, said he was leaning toward Biden.
"It could possibly have more eligible voters, you know, that might be suspicious of voting for someone who is really very left," he said. The main goal of Craig? "To beat Trump."
All candidates, with the exception of Sanders, are less known in the post-Biden period, they bet that if they fail, they will be well placed to inherit voters.
Sanders' allies are watching Warren, whose similar platform makes her a contender for a more liberal alternative to Biden.
Pressed by a reporter after Biden entered the "too comfortable" affair with Wall Street to regulate her as president, Warren said she had defended troubled families in past battles over bankruptcy , while "Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies. "
Since then, however, she has been wise to take charge of it.
Asked about Biden in a brief interview, Warren refused to talk about him or his file. "I can not speak to any other campaign," she said.
Warren focuses on defining policy proposals; his mantra is "I have a plan" and the t-shirts with the phrase have become the new best-selling item of his campaign.
Part of what seems to be propelling Biden into the beginning of his campaign is his strength among different groups of voters, including not only white voters, blue-collar workers, but also African-Americans. Several candidates are also competing for this support.
Harris, who is energetically striving to win black voters, will turn to the NAACP Detroit Chapter on Sunday.
"I love Joe Biden," Harris said when he joined the race.
Buttigieg began last week while having lunch with Reverend Al Sharpton and finished it on the cover of Time magazine with her husband, Chasten.
The Buttigieg campaign believes there is a need for closer relations – and political references – with voters unaware of the mayor of South Bend. His team is also working to strengthen its presence in the first states, including South Carolina, where it campaigns Sunday and Monday, immediately after Biden's visit to the region.
While the other candidates for the Democratic nomination took Biden in different ways, the former vice president focused solely on a contrast with Trump. He announced his race in a video highlighting the president's remarks about a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, prompting Trump to rephrase his remarks.
"I understand that the President has tweeted a lot about me this morning. I wonder why the hell he does that! Biden said during a recent swing in Iowa, virtually stunned. "I'm going to get his attention for a while, guys."
He has also worked to appear at the same pace as the current electorate. Wednesday night, during a demonstration in Des Moines, half a dozen protesters in penguin masks raised signs saying: "The climate is a crisis."
"Do not worry, I'll talk about climate change, I promise," he said. "And besides, I got there before all the other candidates, could I add." Perhaps unwittingly, dating himself, he noted, "I am one of the first to introduce a climate change bill, way back in 1987, agreeing ?
Biden is also looking to expand its financial advantage over many players in the field. While some of his opponents have sworn to seduce big donors in the face of growing Democrats' concerns over the influence of the rich, Biden is due to take part in a fundraiser on Wednesday in Los Angeles, where donations range from 2,800 to 10 $ 000.
He also recalls his biggest selling point, his connection with the 44th president, who remains popular among many Democratic voters.
"I think it's eliciting a lot of excitement just because it's served under President Obama's orders," said Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), Who represents a dynamic district. from the suburbs of Atlanta and which has not been endorsed. "People believe in some way, you know, he's probably one of the most experienced presidential candidates."
This feeling has so far been taken up by many voters. While they recognize that it is not an ideal candidate, voters say that it seems authentic and represents what they want: a return to normal.
"As soon as he announced, I thought: Yes. Someone comes to our rescue, "said Hope Phillips, a 52-year-old financial sector employee from Des Moines.
Andrew Lietzow, a 67-year-old from Des Moines and Executive Director of the Iowa Landlord Association, is the kind of voter voters need to worry about. If Biden was not in the race, Lietzow might support one of them.
"Cory Booker is strong. Elizabeth Warren is strong. Just like Kamala Harris. But compared to Joe? Not even hunting, "he said.
Annie Linskey, Chelsea Janes, Amy B Wang and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. contributed to this report.
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