Reset: Biden overhauls his 2020 campaign before second Democratic debate
by Joseph Simonson
& Kerry Picket
| July 25, 2019 05:34 PM
After self-inflicted wounds from his boasts over decades-old work with segregationist senators and a desultory debate performance, Joe Biden is resetting his campaign to confront his Democratic primary rivals.
The former vice president's strategy, previewed Wednesday night at a Detroit fundraiser, marks a dramatic shift from the front-runner's version of a Rose Garden strategy, which was heavy on campaign fundraising and light on taking on his two dozen primary rivals. He is now pledging to attack his rivals head-on, abandoning his nonaggression campaign promise made in May.
His poll numbers plummeted after a near-disastrous debate performance in Miami last month, when he wilted under an attack from Sen. Kamala Harris of California. He will now face Harris again in a Detroit debate next Wednesday, along with Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, with whom he has tangled this week.
Biden, 76, has overhauled his stump speech to focus on more than nostalgia for the president he served under, Barack Obama. The 36-year Senate veteran is now outlining what his presidency would look like, should he win the Democratic nomination and beat President Trump in fall 2020.
Democrats told the Washington Examiner it was plain that Biden was overhauling his approach in an attempt to cling onto his dwindling lead.
He is "reconfiguring" his campaign, according to Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, who has praised Biden without formally endorsing him. He's changing "approaches based on the previous debates."
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/reset-joe-biden-overhauls-his-2020-campaign-before-second-democratic-debate
