Is California a problem for Joe Biden?

[left-of-center2012]

Is left-leaning California a problem for Joe Biden? For a second time, candidate skips a forum there.

With California shaping up to be one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds of the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, the majority of nearly two dozen White House hopefuls have descended on the state this week for a slew of campaign events and a chance to address the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting.

But the frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, is conspicuously absent. He made the decision to skip Friday's campaign cattle call in San Francisco and instead head to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire to campaign this weekend.

It marks the second time in less than three months that Biden has opted to skip a high-profile forum of White House hopefuls in California,and campaigned elsewhere.

In June, Biden faced the scorn of some California Democratic activists when he passed up the chance to join other 2020 candidates in San Francisco – at a meeting of 3,400 activists at the California Democratic Party Convention. Biden spent just six days in the Golden State during the first four months of his campaign with the bulk of the travel built around fundraisers. He’s made the strategic decision that there is little upside in playing in the party's more left-leaning settings, analysts say.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/08/23/joe-biden-skips-california-campaigning/2075208001/

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Bash oh wait, uh NO, not a problem...BASH BASH BASH

[Vegas Roller]

2. lol

[George II]

3. Apparently not:

RCP averages as of today:

Biden 23.3%
Harris 21.0
Warren 18.7
Sanders 17.3
Buttigieg 5.0

[DownriverDem]

4. Focus

on beating trump. Biden running with a strong, progressive, Dem, woman would be formidable. Calling Stacey Abrams?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

7. Stacey would be a great addition to the ticket, with anyone.. top or bottom!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[FloridaBlues]

5. NH votes before Cali make sense right now to get more supporters there. He is doing well in Cali

[Garrett78]

6. Biden knows that winning both IA and NH would likely seal the deal.

And his handlers know that they need to limit his unscripted moments.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

8. So why arent Joe's handlers doin exactly that? That last Obama comment was shocking to say the least

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Garrett78]

11. They aren't going to be able to completely eliminate unscripted moments.

But one could certainly argue that they need to do a better job. Biden has always been gaffe-prone and was never considered presidential material until he became VP for the very popular Obama (who didn't want Biden to run and embarrass himself). Obama made a strategic choice, as all nominees do. Biden was an older white male who was considered moderate. Again, though, Biden was eliminated from contention very early in 2008 and had to leave the race in 1988 due to scandal. And now he's at an age that would make him the oldest person ever elected. Name recognition is still the driving factor at this juncture, but I don't buy the notion that Biden is our best bet.

There are those who are convinced we need an old white male in order to defeat an old white male. That's been drilled into the public consciousness ever since Clinton lost to Trump, and we heard all of the bullshit about how economic anxiety was the cause and about how Clinton didn't speak enough about economics. That's all been debunked, of course, but the myth lives on.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. So true, and the fact that Obama didn't want Joe to run tells you a lot.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Demsrule86]

14. That is not true...

[Princetonian]

15. That is not a fact. it is bullsh*t.

Please read this OP thread in its entirety. It touches on the falsity of the statement you just made.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287249934

[Princetonian]

16. Seriously? You don't get what Joe was saying? Sigh.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=251924

[quickesst]

9. " is California a problem for Joe Biden?"

No, California is not a problem for Joe Biden . As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure he likes California just fine.

[EveHammond13]

10. the Democratic nominee will win California.

[Autumn]

13. Yes, It is a problem for him. The fact that he thinks there is little upside in "playing" in

the party's more left-leaning settings won't sit well with people. It also didn't work out too well the last time.

[Princetonian]

17. Yeah, it's such a problem that Joe is the frontrunner ahead of the Senator from California.