WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s reset after his disastrous debate performance feels more like a return to business as usual.
Even as yours campaign works to end Democratic anxiety and reassure scared donors, Biden has put the focus on presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump as a threat to the nationand trying to get back to doing the job of president.
The president’s schedule this week includes a briefing on extreme weather, a campaign reception, a Medal of Honor ceremony and the traditional White House barbecue on the Fourth of July. Then he spends a weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Nothing out of the ordinary, everything telegraphed.
But Vice President Kamala Harris, at a fundraiser Sunday night, nodded to what she called “the elephant in the room.” The debate, she admitted, was not Biden’s “finest moment.”
Still, “if we set style points aside, there is a clear contrast,” she argued, calling Trump “a threat to our democracy” and “a liar.”
Despite all the public efforts to shift the focus back to Trump, however, there have been private discussions about what more Biden could do to counteract what Americans saw during the debate, when he gave convoluted answers, sometimes stalled, occasionally stared and sounded hoarse-voiced.
There has been talk about whether he should be seen more in public through town hall-style events or interviews and press conferences, which he generally avoided during his tenure.
But most in its orbit are waiting for more substantial research to assess the severity of the damage before altering course in any substantial way. That’s according to four Biden advisers who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Biden’s team may not change anything at all. Many think – or hope – that the difficult time will pass, especially after Biden’s family encouraged him to stay in the race and keep fighting during a rally at Camp David on Sunday.
Campaign officials said Monday they had nothing to announce about new events. They said Biden would campaign like he has, hitting swing states like he has been doing for months.
An ad released Monday was called “I Know,” using clips from Biden’s post-debate rally in North Carolina where he said, “When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
Quentin Fulks, Biden’s chief deputy campaign manager, put the focus on Trump in a call with reporters, saying: “When you see President Biden on the trail, he will be talking about the reasons why Americans should be afraid of Donald Trump. Trump, as he has been for months.”
Even before the debate, the 81-year-old Democratic president’s age was an issue responsibility to voters, and the prime-time showdown brought the issue to the forefront in front of perhaps the biggest audience he will have in the four months leading up to Election Day. CNN, which held the debate, said more than 51 million people watched.
“I think his age was largely influenced and I know he can do better than he did on Thursday night. I expected to see better. I’m not sure other voters did,” said Jennifer Palmieri, White House communications director during the Obama administration and spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
She added that tactically, the campaign responded by promoting Biden’s strong speech in North Carolina on Friday and continuing to release strong fundraising numbers. Palmieri also said Biden may also want to do more interviews to continue to show that the debate was an anomaly.
“Their focus needs to be on getting him in front of the most important voters, and more interviews should be part of that. Don’t be like Trump in your little universe,” she said. “For now, we’re early, but what they’re doing is working.”
There is a sense that voters may now be watching Biden more closely for signs that show, one way or another, whether his debate failure was a blip – whether he is, as he says, capable of making the work.
Rebecca Katz, a strategist who worked with Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s victorious 2022 campaign, saw possible parallels in Fetterman’s return from a shaky debate performance after suffering a stroke.
Fetterman’s team highlighted particularly bombastic comments his opponent made about abortion during the debate, and also had the candidate travel extensively afterwards. He gave many local television interviews to ensure voters in major markets saw him outside of debate clips.
“It’s not a perfect comparison, but there is a plan for the Biden campaign,” Katz said. “You can have a tough debate night and still win.”
Biden expressed interest in doing at least one interview. At a fundraiser Saturday in East Hampton, New York, Biden said he spoke with radio host Howard Stern, who interviewed him in April, where he answered open-ended questions mostly about his early years.
The president told the crowd he was ready for another sit-down with Stern, saying, “I had a great time on his show. And I’m actually going to risk going back.”
The Democratic National Committee and Biden campaignMeanwhile, he maintained damage control, holding an evening financial meeting. Over the weekend, they held calls with donors and one with dozens of committee members across the country — some of the party’s most influential members. They offered an optimistic assessment of the path forward and did not give others on the call the opportunity to ask questions.
Several committee members on the weekend conference call, most granted anonymity to speak about the private discussion, described feeling like they were being asked to ignore a serious situation.
Campaign officials said there was no discussion “of any kind” about Biden leaving the race, nor about any staff changes after the debate.
The window of opportunity for this is shrinking anyway. The Democratic National Committee announced it will use a virtual roll call to formally make him the nominee before the convention begins in Chicago on August 19. But when this will happen and what it will look like is still unclear.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.
