‘Turning the corner’: Biden ramps up campaign to calm Democratic nerves

For more than a year, President Joe Biden and his campaign’s high command have dismissed Democratic concerns about his reelection prospects as the bloviations of ill-informed, unappreciative, innately panicky backseat drivers.

But now, beset by a growing drumbeat of doubts and largely immovable polling, Biden is changing course on multiple fronts — making stylistic changes and fashioning major policy initiatives with an eye on shoring up his political vulnerabilities and projecting vigor from within the campaign.

He's not explicitly conceding that the "bedwetters" — the derisive Democratic term of art coined by Obama campaign manager and White House adviser David Plouffe — are right. But he's certainly changing the linens.

He and his team preemptively moved to ditch the traditional debate structure and force two independent forums with Donald Trump.

He’s begun sitting for interviews with the type of major publications and outlets he had largely shunned.

After studiously avoiding Trump’s criminal trial, he referred to his opponent as a convicted felon, while the campaign dispatched actor Robert De Niro to draw attention to the courthouse drama.

And he has begun taking more direct steps to reengage Black voters drifting away from him, including with a much-hyped stop alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

That’s just the messaging front. Biden’s policy portfolio has also undergone a revamping that portrays a president tiring of the bed-wetting narrative. In a matter of weeks, Biden adopted a new policy for Ukraine that would see U.S. weapons deployed in parts of Russia. He debuted a new peace proposal for Gaza, and he announced a new executive action to effectively shut down huge swaths of the U.S.-Mexico border, as Republicans continue to hammer Democrats on immigration.

For allies, it all amounts to a much-welcomed effort to silence wary Democrats and reset the race amid widespread fears on the left about his reelection prospects.

“I don't think any of us hold a lot of stock in those polls,” said Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), chair of the New Democratic Coalition. “But he's beginning his campaign in earnest and I think that's a good thing, turning the corner. Obviously, they're winding down from getting anything done here in the Republican House. And so, we're ready for the campaign and let the season begin.”

Inside the Biden campaign, officials maintain the current ramp up was long planned. One senior official granted anonymity to discuss internal campaign strategy said that a “fast forwarding” of the election for voters was a “key imperative” once they entered the summer.

But they also acknowledge they are trying to make up a deficit among critical voting blocs. “It’s no secret that amongst those who are the most tuned in, Joe Biden is faring well,” the official said. “Where we have to make up ground is among those who have yet to pay a lot of attention to the presidential election. That’s where the information gap is widest.”

One way to close the gap, the campaign concluded, was by challenging Trump to two debates, including one in June — the earliest debate for a general election. But the campaign decided to go more directly after Trump on his legal woes, too. The campaign has begun regularly referring to the former president by a new title, “convicted felon,” including on a billboard outside one of Trump’s recent events and in social media posts. Biden himself used the descriptor at a fundraiser, where the president frequently road-tests new messaging before it hits the campaign trail.

“The sky is blue and Donald Trump is a convicted felon,” the senior campaign official said. “We’re not going to shy away from what the reality is.”

The campaign is also trying out what it describes as “guerrilla-style” campaign events, like De Niro’s appearance at the Manhattan courthouse. The campaign official called it a “good template of what we’re looking to do more of” in the coming weeks, though they declined to give further detail. Timed with Biden’s trip to Normandy this week, the campaign dropped an attack ad on Trump, splicing together footage and quotes of the former president referring to veterans as “suckers” and “losers.”

The Democratic National Committee is also stepping its efforts, recently launching its opposition research and rapid response operation around Trump’s potential vice presidential picks.

While another Biden adviser said that these escalations are all part of a ramp up plan already in place, other Democrats see it as a needed salve for an anxious party.

“Our base wants to see this aggressiveness,” said Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein. “They want to see the president take this election by the horns, and that’s what you’ve seen from him and the campaign in the last few weeks, and I think you’re going to see poll numbers respond to that, too.”

So far those poll numbers have largely remained stagnant. Trump continues to lead Biden in polling averages, both nationally and in the battleground states. Biden’s own job approval ratings are basically unchanged since March’s State of the Union address, when his reelection campaign clicked into a higher gear.

But there are recent points for optimism for Democrats — or, perhaps, less anxiety. Fresh polling shows Biden making modest gains with voters following Trump’s guilty verdict. And the Biden campaign appears poised to try to more aggressively exploit the post-trial news environment.

“I think they may have waited until after the trial to start the contrast drumbeat, and now they’re coming out of the gate with everything they have, doing contrast, contrast, contrast until November,” said Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic strategist. “That’s the whole reason to do a debate this early.”

It’s unclear if the Biden campaign’s recent attempts to calm Democratic nerves will have their desired outcome. The president’s efforts to squeeze Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not been enough for progressive Democrats, who want more dramatic policies, including an end to U.S. military aid. And Biden’s border policy has also angered progressive-minded Democrats, who say he is borrowing intellectually from Trump.

“Trump has created this environment that pits immigrants against others, and raises xenophobia and fear and I think he's doing it because he wants to hide the fact that he's giving all these tax cuts to billionaires and doing nothing for regular people,” said Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). “And I think it's got the president boxed into a place where he feels like he needs to be tough on the border.”

Even as he moves aggressively to stanch the bleeding, challenges loom for Biden, including a restless base and a third party challenge from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said a senior official with Biden’s reelection campaign, granted anonymity to speak frankly though he was not authorized to do so.

“You have key parts of the coalition, the Democratic coalition, who are willing to vote third party or sit out the election, and that's a real challenge right now,” this person said.

Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.