Welcome to our weekly analysis of the state of the 2020 campaign.
The week in figures
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Joseph R. Biden Jr. has raised more $ 50 million since he appointed Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, a massive outpouring of donations that could help his campaign expand the election card and indicated widespread enthusiasm for the ticket.
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A new interview from Marquette Law School finds the state of gambling in Wisconsin has remained virtually unchanged since June. Biden leads Trump among registered voters 49 percent to 44 percent. In a Marquette poll in June, Biden led Trump 50 to 44 percent in a state that narrowly slashed the president in 2016.
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The Biden campaign was successful $ 14.6 million on television commercials this week. The Trump campaign was spent $ 7 million.
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On Facebook spent the Trump campaign $ 1.2 million, and spent the Biden campaign $ 6,500.
Catch me up
After a primary campaign that consumed the entire 2019 and first three months of 2020, followed by an extensive search for the presidency, the Democratic ticket was finally settled this week, in what was always widely considered a likely pairing: a Biden- Harris ticket.
But Sen. Kamala Harris’ history announcement as Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s running mate still felt electrifying to Democrats, who donated $ 50 million to the Biden campaign in the two days after the pick (to To put that in perspective, Mr. Biden raised just over $ 60 million throughout 2019.
The Trump administration also tried to celebrate. “She was my first choice for draft,” Mr. Trump told reporters, although campaign officials had said a week earlier that her preferred running mate for Mr. Biden was Susan E. Rice, the former National Security Adviser.
Vice President Mike Pence appeared on Fox News to tell host Sean Hannity, ” I love the matchup. “He added, ‘It’s on.’
He was right about the last part. With both cards now in place, the final phase of the campaign season is finally kicking in, with Democrats re-hoping an end to the Trump presidency is in sight, and Republicans now provided a full picture of the ticket that they must strike to remain in power.
Why Harris’ new role may be a better fit than her presidential bid
The political whiplash following Mrs Harris’ selection was jealous. Progressives who had helped sink their presidential candidacy now sang their praises. Moderates who felt their campaign was uneven and without message are now calling themselves the future of the Democratic Party.
Even her fellow applicants for the running mate’s job, who had privately insisted for months that Mrs. Harris was a bad match for Mr. Biden, returned the course immediately – and said she would not only make a loyal number two, but be well positioned to make the job her own once.
In part, this is a party that is eternal to project unity in an attempt to defeat Mr. Trump. Yet Democratic leaders also know what is clear to anyone who has followed Ms Harris’ presidential campaign: the role of vice-president highlights many of her best qualities, and probably isolates her from the political dynamics that contributed to her from the presidential campaign. Think of some of the challenges she faced when campaigning for president and how the role of running mate is different.
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She is exempt from administrative policy: A problem that from the beginning of Ms. Harris was, was an ability to dictate an overarching vision of America’s problems and potential solutions. There were times she rejected the language of systemic change, other times she embraced it, and the hodgepodge approach to politics and policy eventually got her on track. As vice president, that is no burden she would face. She would take over Mr Biden’s policy and vision. In many ways, the role is comparable to the procedural one they have held throughout their careers. She can also pass.
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She can focus on attacking the president: This week, in her first appearance as Mr. Biden’s running mate, Mrs. Harris did something she always managed to keep on track – to go to Mr. Trump. In Iowa and South Carolina, she would call the “prosecution of the case” against the interior, a nod to her days in law. This skill, and her reputation for sending tough questions, gives Mr. Biden a go-to pinch hitter for messages that the campaign wants out, but may not be suitable for the candidate.
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Bidding takes all the heat: Finally, the vice-presidential role is structured to have a high political ceiling, but also a bit of risk. The potential administration of Mr. Biden will be judged on his merits – no matter how successful. If all goes well, Mrs Harris can follow a similar path as Mr Biden. If that is not the case then maybe their debt has never been greater.
Trump talks about himself
Mr. Trump has never been accused of subtlety. Even in controversy, when the policy is not useful, or when some employees do not beg him, he has seldom turned his political intentions into mystery. This week was the last example, when the president read the most explicit of his election strategy – financial hoarding of the United States Postal Service to discredit emails and scare white people about people of color who moving to the suburbs. These are his words from two interviews this week:
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Re: Investing in the postal service
“They need that money to run the post office so it can take all those millions and millions of ballots.”
“If we do not make a deal, that means they will not get the money,” he said. “That means they can not have a universal mail-in-vote. They just can not have it. ”
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Re: An “invasion” of the suburbs as Joe Biden is elected
‘They will destroy suburbs. And 30 percent of the people in suburbs are minorities. They say 35 percent, but I want to cut the army. ”
Birtherism is back. Ferrast?
During the Democratic primary, Mr. Trump never really knew what to do about Mrs. Harris, in part because he was not needed (her campaign was over and ready before the primaries began in January).
The president praised the crowd size of their campaign kickoff rally. He talks about her “annoying knowing”, a jab that was still here. It turned out that a woman of color presented a minefield to a president who at that point in the race was trying to expand his coalition, especially among Black voters and white suburbs.
Well, it’s a different story. Mr. Trump is running against a ticket that includes Mrs. Harris, and he is currently feeling like he is losing.
In the hours following the selection of Ms. Harris resuscitated the president’s racist conspiracy theory of birterism that has been part of his political market since before he entered politics.
“I heard today that she does not meet the requirements,” Mr. Trump said of Mrs. Harris, making a false claim that Mrs. Harris, born in California, was not eligible for the National Office because of her parents were immigrants. He also called her “angry” and “annoying.”
Were the attacks surprising? No. Did it despite Mr. Trump hearing about a white House racist conspiracy theory? Yes.
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For years, Mr. Trump destroyed the lie that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
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In 2016, he even attempted a version of the trope in an angry primary fight against Texas Senator Ted Cruz, questioning his citizenship and suggesting that his Canadian roots could be a barrier to holding national office.
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Some of Mr.’s campaign advisers Trump insists they want to make a clear policy case against the Biden-Harris ticket, and market it as left-wing radicals. But they have always left the messaging of the campaign to Mr. Trump, who has regularly made racist calls to his base when he feels like he is losing.
