President Joe Biden's reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that, in a nutshell, aims to spend more — and spend faster.
Not only has Biden aimed to show himself off as a fundraising juggernaut this month, but his campaign is also making significant early investments both on the ground and on the airwaves — hoping to create a massive organizational advantage that leaves Republican Donald Trump scrambling to catch up.
But while the money pouring in has given Biden and the Democrats a major cash advantage, it's also becoming clear Biden will need it. Throughout his life in business and politics, Trump's provocations have earned him near limitless free media attention. Biden, meanwhile, has often struggled to cut through the noise with his own message despite holding the presidency.
That means Biden is going to need oodles of cash to blanket battleground states where a few thousand votes could mean the difference between victory or defeat. Add to that the challenge of reaching millennials, as well as even younger voters, who formed an important part of his 2020 coalition, in a far more fractured media ecosystem that skews toward streaming services over conventional broadcast and cable.
Biden's organizational and outreach effort began in earnest this month, with the campaign using his State of the Union address as a launching pad to open 100 new field offices nationwide and boosting the number of paid staff in battleground states to 350 people. It's also currently in the middle of a $30 million television and digital advertising campaign targeting specific communities such as Black, Hispanic and Asian voters.
In one example of the incumbent President's organizational advantage, his reelection campaign in February had 480 staffers on the ground, compared with 311 to that of Trump and the Republican National Committee, according to Biden campaign officials.
Last fall and summer, Democrats fretted about Biden's early lack of fundraising and campaign activity. Writers' and actors' guild strikes in Hollywood didn't help, either — effectively sidelining the pro-labor union president from raising money in a region that has long bankrolled the party's political ambitions.
Fast forward to the present and the second-guessing about his fundraising operation has tamped down. Aside from raking in millions at high-dollar events around the country — and bringing in $26 million at an event featuring Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on Thursday evening — the President has frequently pointed to the 500,000 new donors who have contributed in recent weeks, arguing that he's expanding his appeal.
Now, even donors lukewarm to the President are contributing, Democratic Party donors and fundraisers say.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
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