Biden bets on small events to try to achieve a big victory in the November elections

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is opting for a low-key presence to try to score a big victory in November.

Ten months before the presidential elections are held, the Democrat has opted for minimalist events – such as visits to tea houses, a family kitchen and a barbershop, for example – instead of holding large rallies.

Biden, who has never been a great speaker, is leaning on his strength as a retail politician who has honed himself over more than 50 years in public office. But the strategy also reflects what his team sees as a different media landscape, in which TikTok videos and Instagram Stories can reach voters more effectively than TV ads and speeches.

Last month in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden picked up burgers and fries from fast-food chain Cook Out and bought takeout at what his campaign described as a “family conversation” at the home of Eric Fitts. who works in the local school system and benefited from the US government’s student loan forgiveness program.

Biden’s campaign recorded the visit, which was closed to journalists, and later posted excerpts online. But the highlight for the president’s team was something that was not planned. One of Fitts’ sons, Christian, shared a 57-second video on TikTok, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Biden’s visit, including when the president admired photos on the family refrigerator and when his limousine He left his driveway.

The post had millions of views, and the Biden campaign was happy to direct reporters to it, even though the campaign does not use TikTok because of national security concerns.

“You have to go to the places where the people are,” said Biden deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty. He added that in a time when people consume news on different platforms that suit personal tastes, it is more difficult than ever for campaigns to reach all the voters they need.

For Biden, those voters tend to be those least engaged in the political process: younger and more racially diverse than the country as a whole, and unenthusiastic about the likely rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump.

“We have to widen the openness to what the president’s time is worth, and who he is talking to and why,” Flaherty said.

Biden kicked off the election year with a pair of big speeches near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and in Charleston, South Carolina, aimed at laying out the choice for voters in November. His campaign said she will continue to hold planned events, especially as summer approaches and once voters start getting involved in the process, but they believe there is a lot of value in small interactions.

Biden’s undramatic style and sometimes incoherent speeches at major events have been seized upon by Trump and GOP critics to push the notion that the 81-year-old president is no longer fit for another four years in office. the White House. Trump, by contrast, rarely holds small events, preferring his signature rallies before large crowds of supporters — many of whom wait hours to get in — or attending sporting events.

The campaign hopes Biden’s small-event strategy will be a way to show the American people a different side of the president that will help boost his lagging poll numbers.

He began in earnest this year with a series of visits to small businesses in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, where the president was amazed by the selection at a bicycle store and chatted with the owner of a running store while trying to highlight the effects. of their economic policies. A sweet tooth, Biden asked an employee at a nearby coffee shop if they made milkshakes and they immediately made him one.

But it’s not all about the softer side of politics. Biden’s advisers said his goal is for the president — or those he meets with — to convey the president’s message.

At Emmaus, Biden told reporters that one of the business owners he spoke to had told him that “I can look at my son now and say, ‘He’s going to be okay.’ We are going to make it'”.

“I came out of this really confident that what we’ve done has had an impact not just here in Eastern Pennsylvania… but across the country. And we are going to do more,” said the president. “The work is not done yet.”

Two weeks later, in a bar in Superior, Wisconsin, the teetotal Biden interacted with more than twenty customers, several of them with beer in hand, after giving a speech at a nearby brewery about the change in the economy.

“Making these stops allows the campaign to show this side of Biden that has always resonated with voters who aren’t glued to the news,” said Kate Berner, Biden’s former White House communications director.

At the African-American-owned Regal Lounge barbershop in Columbia, South Carolina, Biden recently spoke with barbers, staff members and patrons ahead of the state’s Democratic primary on Feb. 3. The Secret Service asked a barber to put down his razor while the president was within arm’s reach of him, prompting some sidelong glances and some laughter.

Last week in Michigan, ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 primary, the Biden campaign took a local businessman aboard the armored presidential limousine from the tarmac next to the presidential plane to a local restaurant.

And on Monday, a day before the Nevada primary, Biden visited an Asian-American-owned tapioca pearl bubble tea shop in Las Vegas and a hotel on the city’s iconic strip, the Strip, and greeted a small group of workers from the state’s influential culinary union.

Democratic strategist Teddy Goff, a veteran of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, said Biden’s team recognizes that “you’re fighting for people’s attention and you’re not just fighting Donald Trump.”

“You’re also playing against ESPN and every funny person on TikTok and whatever people might watch in their free time,” he added. He commented that candidates can alienate viewers if they are not true to themselves.

“You have to find a way that works for you, and that’s going to make someone want to pay attention to you in an environment where they can literally do anything other than listen to a politician.”

Biden has always excelled in retail politics, which Flaherty called a “specific advantage” over Trump that the campaign wants to capitalize on. Those viral moments — and even those that are shared in smaller circles — add to the campaign, Flaherty said.

“I would rather have 100 outside voices saying that Joe Biden is great than one piece of ours saying the same thing,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Seung Min Kim in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and Darlene Superville in Las Vegas contributed to this report.