In 1987, Senator Joe Biden was running for President.
Then, one of his rivals leaked a video of him repeating a speech
from a British politician as his own:
The first Kinnock I’m the first Biden
in a thousand generations to be able to get to university
to get to a college and graduate degree
Biden dropped out and went back to DC, where
he was chair of the Senate Judiciary committee.
He offered to step down.
Here’s how he describes what happened next.
"'Absolutely not,’ Sen. Strom Thurmond said.
‘You’re my chairman.’"
Strom Thurmond wasn't just a Republican - he was a segregationist.
But he and Biden became friends.
Biden’s long career in the Senate was built
on personal relationships like this.
Now, he’s running for President again.
This time, he’s running on the belief that’s defined his political career: That consensus
isn’t just possible, it’s preferable.
People are saying, ‘Biden just doesn’t get it, You can’t work with Republicans
anymore.
That’s not the way it works anymore.’
Well, folks, I know how to make government work.
It’s a promise rooted in Biden’s vision of how things once were.
I’ve worked across the aisle in the past.
I can do that again with your help.
He's a person who represents a nostalgic version of politics.
Biden represents what we want to believe is the past.
Joe Biden believes he can take us back to a time before partisan gridlock.
The question is, should we give him the chance?
What's the best case for President Joe Biden?
I've met Joe Biden and I admit it's kind of enchanting.
He's a gladhander. He'll make you smile.
He'll make you laugh.
People feel like he cares and he has empathy.
That is one of Biden's sort of strengths.
His primary opponents have criticized Biden for being too moderate.
You think he’s too moderate?
He might be too moderate for me and for the party.
I think if you're looking through his policies, what you're gonna see is that
despite the rhetoric of him being a moderate candidate,
in a sort of bigger picture way he's definitely still a progressive.
Biden wants to triple the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 a year to $6,000.
He’s been championing free college since 2015.
And supports a $15 minimum wage.
Plus, he wants to make it easier for workers to know how much their co-workers are making,
to help fight against pay disparities.
If Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders weren't there, I think the headlines would be
"Joe Biden is running on the most progressive policy platform in American history."
At the same time, Biden has built a persona as a moderate deal-maker.
Back in 2009, during the financial crisis, Biden helped convince three moderate
Republican Senators to cross the aisle and vote for a stimulus bill
That helped stabilize the economy
by increasing investment in highways and programs like food stamps
He's going to take a deal, is going to take a bargain because he believes that that's
what's going to make people's lives better.
And the case for him as a candidate rests on where that reputation can help him the most.
I will win Michigan.
I promise you that.
I will win Pennsylvania.
I will win Ohio.
All of the Democratic candidates beat Trump nationwide, all of them.
But that's not how you win.
So in the United States, you have to win not only a lot of votes, but you have to win in
a lot of places.
And that's what Donald Trump did.
So he beat Hillary Clinton with fewer votes, but he won in key places.
Some of these key places Democrats have won before.
Barack Obama won them.
The state of Pennsylvania went for Obama...
But then Donald Trump came in
and he carried a specific district right outside of Pittsburgh by 20 points.
American politics usually comes down to, you know, 10 points is a landslide.
Five points is like a sweeping victory.
So 20 points is a knockout race.
A year and a half later,
there was a special election that came up.
The Republican incumbent had aligned himself closely with President Trump.
And he faced a challenge from a young Democrat.
I’m Conor Lamb, and I approve this message.
They were running a campaign of localized politics, moderate politics, appealing to
union workers.
They worked hard for it and they expect us to keep our promises to them.
His campaign only paused for one national Democrat.
Former vice president Joe Biden.
Go out and make sure he wins!
Conor Lamb won that race.
And a few months later, a similar strategy helped Democrats
win back the House of Representatives.
Of the 41 seats that Democrats flipped from Republican incumbents in 2018, just a handful
went to members of the House Progressive caucus.
The rest ran on more moderate platforms.
It was a lot of just competent women.
A lot of them came from military backgrounds, policing backgrounds.
And were running on, hey, I'm gonna make sure healthcare stays strong.
I'm going to protect the ACA.
Two years later, that sounds a lot like the kind of campaign Joe Biden is running.
I believe we have to protect and build on Obamacare.
That’s why I proposed adding a public option to Obamacare
as the best way to lower cost and cover everyone.
Joe Biden has a case to make, a very strong case that he can go into places where Democrats
have lost and he can win.
He has a reputation for connecting with voters, for being a really great campaigner.
And it's not just that he's good at those things, but it's that those things matter
in the places that Democrats really need to win.
If you're looking at Democrats, it's worth considering.
Who whose political strategy do you like the best and do you think will get the most done?