The Wall Street Journal-Bidens Odd Campaign Behavior

... leading Democrats and Democratic consultants said there are a variety of factors at play for the White House’s interest in Chicago and Illinois — most notably making an early effort to build enthusiasm amid signs that the Democratic base has become blase in a donor-rich state that will host the Democratic National Convention next August.

And if enthusiasm for Biden is problematic in Illinois, it also portends problems in rest of the nation including the all important swing states.

”There is some very obvious softness in the president’s numbers with the Democratic base, and you’re not going to be successful in 2024 without an enthused Democratic base. It’s just good politics to pay attention to them,” said Democratic political strategist Tom Bowen, whose work has included the campaigns of Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot, but is not part of Biden’s campaign apparatus.

If Illinois is problematic, then the president’s re-election effort is in much deeper trouble than is commonly believed.

On the other hand, maybe the emerging Illinois strategy is not a sign of White House panic but rather of complacency—a sense that Mr. Biden can appear to be concerned about voters in various Midwest precincts simply by visiting the one with the most donors. Mr. Pearson reports:

Illinois is an “easy in and out to a major market in the middle of the country,” David Axelrod, political strategist for President Barack Obama and a CNN analyst, said when asked about Biden’s focus on the state this summer. “I assume some of them are picking up some campaign money while they’re here. And, it is the (DNC) convention city, so they’re building toward that.”...

“Illinois is like the heart of the heartland,” said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “So, when Joe or Jill Biden comes and talks to the labor movement in Chicago, that reverberates to our sisters, brothers and siblings in Wisconsin and Michigan and Indiana.”

Voters throughout the Midwest must be honored to know that Joe Biden is willing to go all the way to O’Hare. Perhaps this is a preview of a new 2024 hybrid model of basement campaigning, similar to the one Mr. Biden employed during the Covid panic of 2020 but with occasional flights that take him within a few hundred miles of swing voters.

Perhaps the oddest explanation for Team Biden’s behavior comes from Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D., Ill.), who seems to be trying to present his state as some sort of model. Mr. Pearson reports on the Pritzker analysis of Team Biden’s behavior:

”I do think that being in Illinois is an opportunity for them to point to the things that they really believe in, because we’re accomplishing those things here,” Pritzker said. “It’s an opportunity in many of those situations for them to highlight the good work that they do that’s helping Illinois and also, the things they’d like to see in the rest of the country.”

So many Illinois residents have lately wanted to see more of the rest of the country—and less of Illinois—that Allied Van Lines reported that Illinois was its “top outbound state” for customers moving in 2022.

***

In Illinois and around the country, perhaps Team Biden is focused on trying to excite voters who are already partisan Democrats because the president is unlikely to win over people who are not already in his camp. Susan Page and Ken Tran report for USA Today:

An exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll of unlikely voters − those who are eligible to vote but say they probably won’t − give Trump a lopsided edge over President Joe Biden among Americans who are deeply skeptical of politics and government.

Registered voters who say they aren’t likely to go to the polls back Trump over Biden by nearly 20 percentage points, 32%-13%, with 27% supporting a third-party or other candidate. Citizens who are eligible to vote but haven’t registered also favor Trump by close to 2-1, 28%-15%; 27% prefer another candidate...

The findings reflect a tidal change from a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll of unlikely voters in the summer of 2012. Then, unlikely voters overwhelmingly favored the incumbent Democratic president, Barack Obama, over GOP challenger Mitt Romney, 43%-18%.

***

No Time to Spare?
Speaking of odd behavior, a White House event this week has reporters scratching their heads. This column noted the remarkable courage of U.S. Army Capt. Larry Taylor during the Vietnam War. On Tuesday President Biden presented our hero with the Medal of Honor. Michael Shear reports for the New York Times :

After Mr. Biden finished putting the medal around Mr. Taylor’s neck, the two men shook hands and saluted each other. Mr. Biden quickly left the room, departing even as the benediction was being read.

Did the president have to plan another visit to Chicago?

***

Bye-ku for Jimmy Buffett

End of summer here;

Relaxing forever in

Margaritaville.

-- Chip Watkins

***

James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival” and also the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi.”

***

Follow James Freeman on Twitter.

Subscribe to the Best of the Web email.

To suggest items, please email [email protected].

(Teresa Vozzo helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to Chip Dickson.)

***