| | | | Joe Biden's lucky break |  | | To win a presidential primary -- especially one with two dozen candidate -- you need some luck. And Joe Biden got some in this week's back-to-back debates in Detroit when several of his rivals repeatedly ran down the actions of President Barack Obama (and his administration) as a way at trying to lessen the former vice president's ability to claim credit.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders openly advocated for the elimination of the Affordable Care Act in favor of a program that would abolish private insurance altogether. Julián Castro and Bill de Blasio bashed the rate of deportation of undocumented workers in the Obama administration. Jay Inslee took shots at the lack of major action taken during the previous eight years to address climate change.
And on and on it went. Candidate after candidate trying to drag Biden down by lessening the accomplishments of the President under whom he served.
Which, to my mind, is a huge political miscalculation.
Here's why: Obama left office as an immensely popular politician in the eyes of Democratic voters. In a Pew poll in July 2018, more than 7 in 10 Democrats said that Obama was the best (51%) or second best (20%) president of their lifetimes. A Gallup poll in January 2017 showed 95%(!!) of Democrats approved of the job Obama had done in office.
"To my fellow Democrats. Be wary of attacking the Obama record," former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted Thursday morning. "Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained -- for you or the party -- by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President."
By the most simple political calculation, Holder's right. It makes zero sense to be seen as running down a former Democratic president who is almost universally beloved by Democratic voters. And it's not just attacking a popular politician that makes no sense. Hitting Obama's record allows Biden to be the defender of the eight years he served as vice president -- eight years that, if polling is to be believed, most Democrats think went very, very well.
The Point: The main storyline coming out of an at-times shaky debate for Biden appears to be that only he among the candidates stood up proudly for the Obama administration's record. And given Obama's numbers, that's a very good place to be.
-- Chris | | "But maybe you could ask his son-in-law, who's a slumlord there, if he wants to talk about rodent infestations."
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MARKETING A DEBATE MOMENT, BUT FOR BRANDS | | | Wednesday night's debates saw fewer marketable one-liners, but Sen. Cory Booker had another kind of moment: A name-drop.
It happened in an exchange with Joe Biden, as Booker said, "Mr. Vice President, there's a saying in my community, you're dipping into the Kool-Aid and you don't even know the flavor."
Kool-Aid did NOT pass up the chance to get into the conversation, tweeting: "#Ahem @SenBooker OH YEAH #WeKnowTheFlavor #DemDebate." The tweet featured a gif of the iconic Koolaid man tapping a microphone.
🎧 Hear Lauren dive deeper into the world of debate moment merchandising (and read that Kool-Aid tweet aloud) in today's Point podcast. | |
LAUREN'S CAMPAIGN TRAIL LATEST | | Bill de Blasio: Continues to feel the heat from some New Yorkers, a group of whom have purchased billboard ads throughout Iowa telling de Blasio to return to the city. De Blasio isn't scheduled to be in Iowa until August 21.
Donald Trump: Holds a campaign rally tonight in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Jay Inslee: Says he gained 10,000 new donors after his Wednesday night debate performance.
Joe Biden: Joined Snapchat ahead of Wednesday night's debate. | | | | | | |
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