How Biden stopped his Iowa tailspin

[RandySF]

DUBUQUE, Iowa — Sliding steadily in the polls and battling a narrative that he couldn’t endure the kind of rigorous campaign schedule Iowans demand, Joe Biden’s Iowa prospects were just about written off earlier this fall. Even his own campaign began to downplay expectations.

But with 31 days left before the Feb. 3 caucuses, Biden has managed to turn his fortunes around.
He launched a successful, eight-day bus tour through rural Iowa last month that sparked an uptick in volunteers, precinct captain requests and caucus commitments. He increased his fundraising sharply in the last quarter, allowing him to flood the state’s airwaves with ads.

This week, Biden’s Iowa fortunes picked up again when he landed perhaps the most influential Iowa endorsement to date — Rep. Abby Finkenauer, the second youngest person ever elected to Congress. That followed on the heels of endorsement from two other influential state Democrats — Tom Vilsack, a former governor and U.S. secretary of Agriculture, and his wife, Christie — and a well-timed cash infusion in TV ads from a pro-Biden superPAC.

Biden’s rebound comes amid a concentrated effort here. From Nov. 30 through this weekend, Biden will have spent 16 days in Iowa. By caucus day, he will have spent $4 million in integrated paid media, including broadcast TV, cable, Hulu, and social media.

The former vice president is on a second extended bus tour now — and the campaign just announced a separate surrogate bus tour next week with former Secretary of State John Kerry, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and various federal and state lawmakers from across the country.




https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/03/joe-biden-iowa-turnaround-093616

[Hortensis]

1. Abby Finkenauer's one of our freshmen, 29 when she ran for congress.

How nice that hers is an influential endorsement. Must be her appeal and inspiration to younger generations.

To me too because her story exemplifies democracy. Working class background, politics at the dinner table, she and her 3 siblings all first-generation college grads. She was a House page in 2006, and a Biden volunteer when he ran in 2007. In the midterms, she flipped a Republican-held seat 50-45%. And now she's a liberal Democratic member of congress herself, working with her colleagues to create legislation that serves the people.

Go, Abby!

Link to tweet

[empedocles]

2. Haven't heard of her, seems good. 'Funny' how that works.

[LakeArenal]

3. I reject the negative slant as to "tail spin"

Joe is doing fine. If he makes adjustments, he is considered in a tail spin or panicking.

Maybe “Joe’s strategy in Iowa is working” is more like it.

[padah513]

6. In Iowa given it is Finkenauer's home state

I would say yes, and if not, it should.

[Demsrule86]

10. Iowa is not where AOC would prosper...she is in the bluest of districts for a reason.

[myohmy2]

5. "Even his own campaign began to downplay expectations."

...I'm unimpressed...

"How Biden stopped his Iowa tailspin"

...yawn...

...'tail spinner' Joe will return...

[Demsrule86]

12. How much AA support does Sanders have?

[NYMinute]

7. This is how it is done ... not by attacking Democrats but by a positive message. nt

[Perseus]

8. An article from The Guardian

Last edited Sat Jan 4, 2020, 11:15 AM - Edit history (4)

<snip>Supporters of Joe Biden are unlikely to be persuaded by most of the common criticisms. They know he can be rambling and unintelligible. They know his record is unimpressive and that he doesn’t really have “policy proposals”. None of this matters, though, because to them he has the most important quality of all: he can beat Donald Trump. Nothing you can say about Biden’s record, platform, or mental state matters next to the argument that he is the best hope Democrats have of getting Trump out of office.

There’s just one problem: it’s a myth. It is a myth just as it was a myth that Hillary Clinton was a good candidate against Trump. Biden is not, in fact, the pragmatic choice. He would not beat Donald Trump. He would lose. And we must say this over and over again. Forget his flubs. Forget his finger-nibbling. Biden would be crushed by Donald Trump. If you want Trump out of office, don’t support Biden.
~~ [link:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/04/joe-biden-electable-trump-2020-election|

By the way, I am not trying to promote this person's opinion, but I found it very interesting, worth reading the article, but I will add that it is no coincidence republicans want Biden to win the nomination, I have always been weary of that, republicans pretense that they fear a Biden nomination.

[Drunken Irishman]

9. You're posting this, so you're promoting it lmao

Gosh at least don't wuss out on an article you're bringing into a thread that's remotely positive about Biden. You're the one who took the time to come in here, decide it was very important to tear Biden down in a thread that wasn't attacking any other candidate and focusing solely on that of Biden's comeback, by hunting for an opinion piece that mistakes opinion as fact.

You then, like the writer of this article you so very kindly remind us you're not trying to promote, do the same by stating the GOP wants to run against Biden, again with no evidence of this supposed fact.

The article you're not promoting so happens to say it's a myth that he'd beat Trump. We're told he'd be crushed in this article you're not promoting. Okay. Show me the polls that prove this is a myth? Oh wait. The writer in this article you are not promoting can't because that contradicts his point...which is completely built out of the idea that because Hillary lost, then that means so will Biden.

Except that doesn't pass the reality test since, you know, Biden does better than any Democrat head-to-head against Trump. Gosh, it's almost like Biden isn't Hillary!

Hell, one could be as stupid as the writer is and assume that, because Obama is literally the only Democrat to win the White House in nearly 25 years, that the Democrats' only hope is to nominate a non-white candidate, as a white candidate nominee has now lost each of the last three elections they ran. It would make as much sense as the reasoning we're seeing here in the article you're not promoting.

But hey, screw the reality that tells us one thing. That's a myth! Sure sounds a lot like those who are telling us to reject science and disbelieve what's happening to the climate right before our eyes.

Cool. Well I'm glad you're not here promoting this article, tho!

[TexasTowelie]

13. +1

Thank you for saying all of that.

Not only did they didn't promote the article, but they graciously went out of their way to a UK publication to not do it.

[Demsrule86]

11. Sanders and Corbyn supporter...spends his time bashing Biden on Twitter and making video's of

himself bashing Biden...so not relevant.

[Gothmog]

14. I love the new endorsements and new bus tour

Link to tweet

He launched a successful, eight-day bus tour through rural Iowa last month that sparked an uptick in volunteers, precinct captain requests and caucus commitments. He doubled his fundraising in the last quarter, allowing him to flood the state’s airwaves with ads.

This week, Biden’s Iowa fortunes picked up again when he landed perhaps the most influential Iowa endorsement to date — Rep. Abby Finkenauer, the second youngest person ever elected to Congress. That followed on the heels of endorsement from two other influential state Democrats — Tom Vilsack, a former governor and U.S. secretary of Agriculture, and his wife, Christie — and a well-timed cash infusion in TV ads from a pro-Biden superPAC.

Biden’s rebound comes amid a concentrated effort here. From Nov. 30 through this weekend, Biden will have spent 16 days in Iowa. By caucus day, he will have spent $4 million in integrated paid media, including broadcast TV, cable, Hulu, and social media.

The former vice president is on a second extended bus tour now — and the campaign just announced a separate surrogate bus tour next week with former Secretary of State John Kerry, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and various federal and state lawmakers from across the country.