'What the hell's the matter with your campaign?' (Biden)

[brooklynite]

Politico

LAS VEGAS — The crowds remain small. The message is the same. The schedule is still light.

Joe Biden is campaigning in Nevada in much the same way he did in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he suffered back-to-back losses that transformed him from frontrunner to underdog.

...snip...

Early on, Biden’s campaign downplayed the relative lack of energy or big crowds at his events in Iowa and New Hampshire, pointing out that polling still showed him as the frontrunner. But then Biden collapsed in those states, leaving Nevada as the place where he hopes to change the trajectory of his candidacy.

Now, some of his backers privately fret about the disparity in on-the-ground energy when compared with Sanders, Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. All of them packed in 1,000-person crowds at Nevada events over the weekend while events organized by Biden’s campaign had only about a quarter of the attendance or less.

[BusyBeingBest]

1. I think people who vote Biden support him because he's a known quantity--

you're not going to bother with events for a guy you've seen as VP for eight years. There's no curiosity.

[thesquanderer]

3. re: "you're not going to bother with events for a guy you've seen as VP for eight years."

But I bet people would come out to see Obama.

Heck, they would come out to see Michelle.

It's not a matter that too few people are curious, it's that too few people really care. He isn't generating enthusiasm, and it's showing in the vote tallies as much as in the crowd sizes.

I'll be surprised if he does well in Nevada. It's all going to come down to South Carolina, as to whether he's still got a chance or not.

[BusyBeingBest]

4. Joe is the default setting. The "easy" button.

Not an inspiring candidate, but for those voters who haven't paid attention to this race very much, they're still hitting that button, at least in polling. They feel Bernie is scary but aren't interested enough in the others either. That's my take on it.

[brooklynite]

6. I heard this argument leading up to New Hampshire...

[Ron Green]

2. People say big crowds don't mean big vote numbers,

but there’s got to be an electoral correlation (modulated, of course, by trickery.)

[brooklynite]

16. See: Howard Dean, 2004.

See: Bernie Sanders, 2016.

[MineralMan]

5. Some of the steam is gone from his campaign, I think.

I'm guessing that he's realizing that his shot at it isn't going to work - again.

And now, Bloomberg is stealing his thunder. Not with personal appearances and rallies - with multiple, superbly-produced ads that are flooding broadcast television and social media.

Biden can't match that, ad for ad. No way.

Biden is flustered and frustrated, and it shows. I saw him this morning. He was not energized. He was not fully himself.

I think he knows that he's falling behind, and that's taking the wind our of his sails.

[The Mouth]

7. I wonder if he really was more about wanting to get rid of Trump

than about his own ego.

Now that Bloomberg is unleashing all those ads, he just might not feel like he has to sacrifice 4 or 8 years of his life just to save us from Cheeto Benito.

I mean one can give him credit for being willing to get into the fight, for the good of the country, even when he as well earned retirement and relaxation.

[BusyBeingBest]

8. My sense is that the Democratic Party folks in power encouraged him

to run to save us from both Bernie and Trump, sort of like a rescue mission for Democrats and America. They maybe haven't seen him in action for a while and overestimated his abilities on the stump.

[The Mouth]

10. Plus, not to be ageist

because I really hate ageism, but 77 is a perfectly respectable age to say "nah, too much work". The man just might be ready to kick back and rest and relax in the 10-15 years the average male that age has left. The party has plenty of good folks who CAN get elected and want to save the country, your preference included. I think that maybe he even got into it from a sense of duty rather than sheer drive; and I say that with the UTMOST respect.

[BusyBeingBest]

11. I absolutely agree, it's not really my preference to have three guys pushing 80

in the contest. But here we are, LOL. I agree about Joe's sense of duty, his ego isn't that massive compared to others.

[The Mouth]

14. Well, IMHO the other two run on ego and bile

Not Joe, though.

[Demsrule86]

15. Bloomberg is the same age as Biden...Sanders is older...Buttigieg is going to lose the primary as is

Klobachar and the sooner they get out the better...Biden too if he doesn't win Carolina...Bloomberg can beat Sanders (who will lose a general) and Trump...any candidate that acts as a spoiler by staying in too long and helping elect Trump will be ruined politically.

[Baclava]

13. Name recognition and clutching onto Obama's coattails only takes u so far. "It's his turn" wont work

At some point you have to generate excitement and enthusiasm for your campaign standing on its own. He's shedding voters quickly to Bloomberg it seems. He is desperate for a win and if he cant take SC i think he's done.

[BusyBeingBest]

17. All true, although Mike could have a disastrous debate and Joe could land some punches

and then the race upends in his favor. Might happen. Not counting on it.

[MineralMan]

9. I don't know. I can't read his mind.

He's older than I am, and I'm tired. Maybe that has something to do with it, too.

[The Mouth]

12. I can't read minds, either

but merely speculating. It's a hell of a lot of work even to GET the gig, and then a minimum of 4 grueling years of 24/7/365. Obama looked 20-25 years older when he was done than when he took the oath.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. He didn't expect that he would have to work at it, or he simply didn't want to have to work at it.