POLITICO (“Biden world privately makes 2024 moves of their own“):
Quietly, however, the White House and the DNC are taking some early steps to prepare for the Biden re-elect campaign. There are discussions about having multiple, allied super PACs with one or two dedicated to Black and Latino media, according to a senior Democrat. Two other Democrats confirmed that there are general discussions about an outside paid Latino media effort but said it was unclear if it would be through a super PAC or some other entity.
The White House and the DNC have also worked together to solicit resumes for some senior roles in the re-elect, according to five Democrats familiar with the matter. Biden advisers have zeroed in on headquartering the re-elect in Philadelphia, although a final decision has not been made, according to four of those Democrats. And some White House officials have already expressed interest to senior aides about joining the campaign.
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Many Democrats don’t expect a Biden decision to come imminently. Biden himself is known to be Hamlet-esque in settling on these types of matters. Plus, the White House is wary of the financial burdens that come after the president officially declares for re-election. Currently, the DNC pays for political events, but the White House can fudge what is technically a political event or just a policy event with political upside. That becomes more difficult once Biden declares, and the bills can quickly add up. Some former Trump White House officials believe they made a mistake by filing for re-election on day one because of the campaign money it ended up costing them the first two years.
So until then, the White House will largely be relying on the DNC to do the electoral blocking and tackling. The committee is launching a coordinated 2024 response effort that will hound multiple GOP hopefuls, according to a person familiar with the operation.
The DNC, which has also been monitoring former Vice President MIKE PENCE‘s book tour blitz, just announced plans to embed press staffers in the four states at the front of the primary calendar as well in Florida, home turf for both Trump and DeSantis.
It’s the earliest the DNC has ever put communications staffers on the ground in a presidential cycle, according to a press release announcing the moves.
As for early messaging against Trump, both the DNC-run @JoeBiden account and the White House-run @POTUS account published videos today that focused on the president signing the bipartisan infrastructure bill after Trump’s inconsistent efforts to focus on the issue.
As Biden said in one of his videos: “My predecessor promised infrastructure week. It never came.”
While I continue to have misgivings about Biden’s age and propensity to misspeak, I simply can’t imagine he doesn’t run again if his health allows it. All things considered, he’s had a good two years and the midterm results were better than expected. Beyond that, Kamala Harris has not exactly lit up the world despite being given a much bigger platform than typical for the Vice President. There’s not really an obvious successor waiting in the wings.
It fully makes sense for Biden to wait as long as possible before making an announcement, both the avoid the expenses of being an official candidate and to keep up the illusion that he’s just doing his job. And he’s especially suited for a Rose Garden approach to campaigning.
