Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential campaign, which has faced criticism from some Democrats worried about his team’s general election readiness, is planning a substantial expansion of its operation and eyeing an ambitious battleground map even as the question of when Mr. Biden will resume in-person campaigning remains unclear.
In an hourlong briefing with reporters on Friday, senior campaign officials pledged to have “over 600 organizing staff responsible for battleground states” in place by next month as they pursue an “expanded map” with Arizona at the “top of the list” of new opportunities. They also said that they had doubled the size of the digital team “and it is growing,” and that they planned to implement a new livestreaming platform as they navigate the challenges of campaigning virtually during the coronavirus crisis.
The campaign, which is seeking to cast the election as a referendum on President Trump, expects traditional, on-the-ground organizing to take place sometime this year, said Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon. But when that begins — or when Mr. Biden leaves his Wilmington, Del., home to campaign — will be determined by public health recommendations, she said.
“The most important thing for us and for the campaign is public safety and the safety of the vice president, the people around him, the staff, the press corps, the Secret Service,” Ms. O’Malley Dillon said, noting the current stay-at-home order in Delaware. “We will travel physically to places when the time is right, driven by the experts and the guidelines that come and not a day before.”
But, she stressed, “I truly believe voters, our volunteers, our activists, our supporters, get as much on hearing from the V.P. and connecting with him in a virtual setting now as they would if he was out in person. So I really feel like we’re doing the business of campaigning in an aggressive way.”
Yet news of the campaign expansion comes as some Democrats have expressed anxiety about Mr. Biden’s visibility and the campaign’s agility, headed into a general election in which Mr. Trump has an enormous cash advantage and the bully pulpit of the presidency. The Biden campaign, which is now fund-raising with the Democratic National Committee, has $103 million in cash on hand, according to a slide show that accompanied the campaign presentation. The Trump campaign announced this week that, in conjunction with Republican fund-raising committees, it had $255 million on hand.
Some Democrats have also been dismayed by the poor quality of Mr. Biden’s online appearances, citing the glitches that have marred some of his livestreams, and have urged him to significantly upgrade his digital operation and to find ways to drive a forward-looking agenda.
Ms. O’Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon, the Biden campaign chief strategist, argued that for all of the hand-wringing about tactics, Mr. Biden continues to lead in many polls because he cuts strong positive contrasts with Mr. Trump on matters from empathy to governing style. The president also faces a historically challenging environment amid disapproval of his handling of a pandemic that is killing tens of thousands of Americans and leaving millions unemployed.
“The Trump campaign themselves would admit they could not win a referendum on his presidency in this country today,” Mr. Donilon said.
Asked for comment, a Trump campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, replied: “Every election is a choice. Voters will be able to choose between President Trump’s record of success and Joe Biden’s dismal record as a Washington, D.C., swamp monster.”
Ms. O’Malley Dillon said that in coming weeks the campaign will intensify its efforts in critical swing states, with plans to have leadership in place by next month as part of an effort to build out the relatively skeletal staff that powered Mr. Biden through the primary. She promised “a number of significant announcements” in coming days on how the team is growing and emphasized a commitment to hiring “diverse senior leadership.”
Ms. O’Malley Dillon also sketched out the Biden campaign’s view of the battleground map, echoing the candidate, who privately told supporters at a virtual meeting of his finance committee on Thursday that he expected a major expansion of the playing field, according to two participants.
She indicated that the campaign sees Arizona, Texas and Georgia as being in play. She is particularly “bullish,” she said, on Arizona, a traditionally red state. An accompanying slide described the Biden strategy in Arizona as a mix of persuading Romney-Clinton voters and others who have moved toward the Democratic Party recently, as well as increasing turnout among Latino voters and voters under 30.
She also said that the campaign intended to roll out a new website.
A night earlier, Mr. Biden again addressed the biggest controversy his campaign has faced in the general election to date, saying that he did not remember Tara Reade, the woman who has accused him of sexual assault, and adding that Americans “probably shouldn’t vote for me” if they believe the accusation, which he has strenuously denied.
“I think they should vote their heart,” he said on MSNBC, asked about his message to voters who had been inclined to support him but believed the Reade allegation. “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade.”
Ms. Reade, a former Senate aide, has said that Mr. Biden assaulted her in 1993. In the interview Thursday night Mr. Biden said that women’s claims of assault should be taken seriously but should also be vetted, as he sharpened his questioning of Ms. Reade’s accusation.
“Look at Tara Reade’s story,” he said. “It changes considerably. But I don’t want to question her motive. I don’t want to question anything other than to say the truth matters.”
On Friday, Kate Bedingfield, a deputy campaign manager, was asked whether the Biden camp believed that Mr. Trump or his campaign were linked to Ms. Reade’s allegation. “No,” she replied, saying the campaign was not questioning her motive.
Also Thursday night, Mr. Biden indicated that he would not pardon Mr. Trump if elected — “absolutely, yes, I commit,” he said, when asked if he would commit to not pardoning the president, and to the idea that no one is above the law.
And he said he had no involvement in the F.B.I. investigation of Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser. In his final days as vice president, Mr. Biden had been one of several officials who asked for the identity of an unnamed American mentioned in intelligence reports about contacts with Russians, an American who turned out to be Mr. Flynn, according to documents released this week by Republican senators. Such “unmasking” requests are made thousands of times a year.
“I was never a part, or had any knowledge, of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office,” Mr. Biden said.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
