Biden campaign: Super PACs needed to fight Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden will accept outside help from high-dollar super PACs during his presidential bid in order to fight a separate election battle against President Donald Trump, Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz said during a Tuesday stop in Las Vegas.

“The reality is Biden has to engage a primary against 20-something Democrats and a general election at the same time,” Schultz said.

The campaign is not encouraging super PAC expenditures on its behalf, Schultz added, but it has lifted its ban on them. Biden still supports a constitutional amendment to abolish super PACs and reform campaign finance.

“Ideally, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Schultz said.

Super PACs are political action committees that can accepted unlimited contributions from donors but may not coordinate with political campaigns.

Schultz said the president is “willing to commit impeachable offenses to take down Joe Biden.” Trump’s campaign and allies have already spent at least $10 million to attack Biden more than a year out from the general and months before a Democratic nominee will be named, so the campaign must “use all resources that are legally available” to fight back, he said.

“The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 goal of everybody is to beat Donald Trump,” Schultz said. “And if we don’t beat Donald Trump, nothing else matters.”

The Biden campaign does not condone any super PAC money being used to target other Democrats, Schultz said.

Fundraising gap

Schultz acknowledged the small-dollar fundraising gap between himself and his chief rivals, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but he does not see it as a significant hurdle to climb. Biden will not have to spend as much as others in the field to earn name recognition, and he’s already spent what Warren and Sanders will soon have to spend to amplify their messages in defense of media scrutiny or opposition research typically targeting frontrunners.

Both Warren and Sanders, he said, spent millions over the last few years to amass huge email lists that Biden did not have going into the race. Schultz said his campaign is improving in that regard, raising more online in the first two weeks of October than in all of September.

Sensationalism is also a great way to raise money online, Schultz said, which is something Biden will not do.

He cited impeachment as an example. Some candidates called for impeachment months before Trump allegedly asked the Ukraine for dirt on Biden, but the former vice president set a clear line and supported impeachment only when Trump crossed it.

No intramural attacks

Biden is also less likely to deliver a soundbite attack of a fellow Democrat on the debate stage, Schultz said, which also helps with online fundraising. Schultz expressed frustration with the double-digit participant debate format in general, saying “no one benefits but Trump” from a system that rewards quick strikes over actual debate.

“It’s not who he is, and I think most voters value that more in the end,” Schultz said.

Schultz believes that most Democratic voters know Biden as a steadying presence who can deliver in three key ways for the country: Building the middle class, unifying the country in a divisive time and working with Congress to get things done.

Biden is uniquely suited, Schultz said, to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters and make red states like Georgia, North Carolina and Texas winnable against Trump. He is the only candidate who maintains 15 percent viability in every congressional district and all of Texas’s state Senate districts, which means he can collect delegates nationwide, Schultz said.

Broad appeal

Polls, debates and tweets are snapshots in time and constantly in flux, Schultz added. Biden is competitive, but not necessarily on top among the very liberal, very young and very educated groups that populate Twitter. But his core support comes from the groups that make up the plurality of the Democratic Party: African-Americans, Latino and Latina voters and those living in more rural areas or who may be a little less educated, he said.

Schultz said he does not read Biden’s shrinking lead in the polls as a cause for concern, saying Warren and Sanders may now face the same intense scrutiny Biden has over the past six months.

In Nevada, for example, Biden’s support base has remained solid as undecided voters shop around. These voters know Biden and what he stands for, Schultz said, but they’re curious about other candidates, too.

“I think you will see voters date other people,” Schultz said. “We just want to be the ones who get married on caucus day.”

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.