Praying that he can salvage his flagging campaign, 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.) told a small audience in Columbia, S.C., last night that his campaign is just beginning. After finishing 4th place in Iowa and 5th place in New Hampshire, Biden watched his campaign unravel, telling his audience he couldn’t wait to get to a more “diverse” audience, like the one in S.C. South Carolina has a 27% black population, compared with 9.2% in Iowa and 4% in New Hampshire. Biden ties his future in the 2020 race to the black community, not considering that there are other progressive candidates competing for their votes. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigeig, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Sen. Amy Klobushar (D-Minn.), all have some appeal to African Americans but, more importantly to white voters who ignored Biden.
Bidens’ idea of gaining more traction in the South, Mid-Atlantic or Northeast where there’s a higher percentage of African American voters sounds good until you realize there’s competition for those votes. Why Biden thinks because he served at former President Barack Obama’s Vice President for eight years that he’s a lock for the African American vote is anyone’s guess. Biden performed so poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire that his national aggregate polls have plummeted, leaving Sanders with a 23.6% to 19.2% lead in the polls. No one’s seen the full impact of watching Biden finish a distant 5th in New Hampshire, further eroding his case of Nevada and South Carolina voters. Biden’s claim-to-fame was his name-recognition, propelling him to front-runner when he announced April 25, 2019.
Biden’s hallmark has been selling himself as Democrats’ best hope of beating 73-year-old President Donald Trump. Biden’s inevitability was crushed with poor finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Whatever Joe’s strategy, his “I’m the best person to beat Trump” has gone-by-the-boards, with voters in remaining primary states rethinking their picks. Recent incidents on the campaign trail, arguing or combative exchanges with voters haven’t helped his cause. Joe bristles when anyone asks him about his 50-year-old son Hunter, who gained the national spotlight in the impeachment hearings with Trump’s legal team talking about his illicit gains working on board of Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings natural gas company. Joe gets testy if anyone questions Hunter or about his electability. Iowa and New Hampshire raise serious doubts about his appeal with white or non-African American minority voters.
New Hampshire raised serious doubts about Biden and Warren’s campaigns. Warren finished 4th with 9.2% of the vote behind upstart Klobushar with 19.8%. When you consider Warren’s from a neighboring state, Massachusetts, her performance in New Hampshire raises more questions for donors. Biden faired so poorly he couldn’t face voters in Nashua on election night, bolting quickly to South Carolina. Biden can’t possibly think that his firewall are African American voters when they occupy a relatively small fraction of primary voters. Results from Iowa and New Hampshire indicate that Joe has a bigger problem selling himself in the 2020 campaign. His pitch that he’s the best candidate to beat Trump no longer works, prompting voters to reconsider other candidates. Biden also offers little to younger voters that went for Obama in droves in 2008 and 2012.
Biden can’t blame only his age on why he’s not connecting with younger, millennial voters, who seem drawn to 78-year-old grandfather-like Bernie Sanders. Biden presents himself as much younger than Sanders when, in fact, they’re only one year apart. Biden has sold himself as a continuation of the Obama policy on the economy and in foreign policy. Young voters and minorities are drawn to Bernie for his student debt relief, Medicare-for-all and free college tuition. Biden offers more Obama but no answer for the health care and student debt crisis. Biden’s poor showing in Iowa and New Hampshire directly relates to his sales pitch, that takes Trump to task but doesn’t offer anything new. Biden thinks he’s get bailed out for his poor delegate totals by convincing Party insiders to award him more super-delegates at the time of the DNC national convention.
Beiden’s free-fall speaks volumes about his lack of campaign coherency, counting on African Americans to bail him out. Bernie has tapped into what Democrats voters are looking for in this election cycle. Democrat voters want a progressive agenda, not some moderate, old-school politician that offers nostalgia but little else. When Biden debate Mayor Pete Feb. 8 in Nashua, he accused the 38-year-old South Bend mayor of being too young-and-inexperience. Biden’s years of Washington experience has worked to his detriment, with voters wonder what, if anything, new they can expect. Biden’s reluctance to sign on to a liberal agenda makes him look more like Trump running for president. Biden though his moderate appeal would transform his campaign, only to find out the progressive base wants more. Counting on African Americans in Nevada and South Carolina, Biden’s in for a rude awakening.
