Biden’s Money Raised Isn’t the Story Tonight. How He’ll Spend It Is

Leading up to today and into this evening the chattering classes have been talking about the huge fundraiser the Biden/Harris campaign was having at Radio City Music Hall. And the $25 million (plus) it would raise. That, as Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out was more than Trump raised in all of February. And oh the talk, about former Presidents and Party unity and so on. With a dash of negativism about how it would all play with average folks in the heartland of course. The dominant theme however was all that money and Biden’s & Democrat’s huge financial advantage and momentum. For me however the real story has been quietly going on under the radar, which is what all the money being raised will be used for.

Fundamentals people. If you’re a basketball fan who remembers Michael Jordan or see highlights of spectacular moments it’s easy to overlook how before he turned pro he had a high school and college coach that instilled rock solid basketball fundamentals into him. I could name other athletes but want to point out the same holds true of successful business executives. Legendary people like Jack Welch, or (still) Warren Buffet always practiced the fundamentals. And so do some politicians.  Fortunately Joe Biden is one of them.

Politizoom’s very own Murfster periodically makes the point that it doesn’t matter if you get your message out IF you don’t have people registered to vote. And who then take the time to actually cast that freaking vote!  GOTV (get out the vote) operations aren’t cool, or “sexy” but they are the bread and butter of winning elections. Thousands of volunteers signing up new voters. Making phone calls, knocking on doors and talking to prospective voters, following up later on once voting starts to make sure they voted. Organizing transportation if necessary – all the unglamorous “grunt work.”

Once upon a time that was enough. In recent decades however that’s no longer the case. Dirty tricks have been around since before I was born but in more recent decades technology has enabled mass robocall campaigns meant to confuse voters. Pamphlets and other “notices” that look official as hell get sent to targeted groups to get them to show up at the wrong place, or give them instructions that will prevent them from casting a ballot. Voter roll purges and sneaky sh*t to keep people from knowing they’ve been purged. And almost without exception it’s conservatives/Republicans pulling this crap.

If all that’s not bad enough, the challenging of the actual counting of votes and then the results is also now on steroids. So, in addition to the OLD fundamentals a new set has to be added to standard practice. That’s why a short article from Trendy Digests warmed my heart today.  Please allow me to backtrack for a minute and ask you to think back to 2008 and 2012. In both elections there were moments when those on our side were, if not freaking the f**k out were deeply concerned. Yet all along, even if he didn’t say it in so many words Obama projected a serine, quite confidence that said: Relax folks. I’ve got this. I’m serious. Think back on that.

Now, I’m the last person who’s going to try to tell you Joe Biden is Obama style “cool” but I’ll say this: like Obama, President Biden has proven before that his quiet confidence that things are under control (even as people have freaked the f**k out) has been well justified.  He’s beaten expectations plenty of times in his long and storied career.  And it’s because he pays attention to “boring” details. Fundamentals. And, like an athlete/coach or a CEO who recognizes things have changed and some new fundamentals must be mastered it turns out Biden has, without us knowing been on top of it all along.  From the linked article:

Long aware of the threat posed by Trump, President Biden has been contemplating the possibility of Trump’s efforts to undermine a potential 2024 victory. “President Biden has been worried, for a while now, that Donald Trump is going to try to steal the election, if it’s very close on Election Day,” a source familiar with Biden’s thinking disclosed. With expectations for an uncomfortably close election outcome, Biden’s team is reportedly constructing a “superstructure” of various legal teams and liberal operatives poised to counter any MAGA-driven moves to destabilize the democratic process.

That’s a nice way of saying Biden knows Trump is going to cheat his ass off. And we now know many of the ways Team Trump and the GOP will try to do so.  However it seems as though not only is the Biden campaign preparing to deal with already known cheating and dirty tricks, they are trying to figure out other things Team Trump might try. AND have a really, really robust infrastructure in place around the country but especially in battleground states for rapid response!  Best of all, the work to build out this “superstructure” is already underway. I’m sure the goal will be to have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people ready to go by the time the nominating conventions are done.

This kind of thing is expensive to be sure. So is TV advertising. However, here’s another cool thing. With the current advantage the Biden campaign can already start reserving ad time both nationally and in specific, crucial markets now when they can get a more favorable price. With Trump and the GOP behind the curve and having to both buy up what’s left and later in the process the Biden campaign will get more for its advertising dollars. (While Trump is funneling so much of what HE is raising to legal expenses) To be fair, it looks as though this time Trump has a couple of top level campaign people down there at Mar A Lago who actually know sh*t. But in the end Trump is the boss and they can come up with a great strategic plan, only to have him rip it to shreds.

Fundamentals mean nothing to Trump. His dad tried and failed to instill any in him which is why he’s failed over and over again.  He lucked out in 2016 and listened just enough to some evil but knowledgeable people. Less so in 2020 and he got his butt kicked. Add in that Trump has clearly devolved mentally and the notion of him understanding, much less adhering to a strategic election plan based on sound campaign fundamentals is laughable.

Yet while we’ve been treated to the spectacle of Trump being, well Trump and putting up with (if not freaking out about) polls showing a close race or Trump even being ahead Biden has been quietly tending to boring old fundamentals. Sure, like others I enjoyed the hell out of Biden’s SOTU speech. Ole “Uncle Joe” proved he can still bring the heat. In fact he’s left many of us yearning for more. And he has needled Trump on social media now and then but he’s still not really engaging.

Right now Trump is his own worst enemy, damaging himself legally, financially and image wise with Independent voters. In both sports and other forms of competition and/or conflict there’s an old saying: Never interfere with an opponent who’s beating themselves.  Trump is beating himself (the supposed jump in wealth via bogus “Truth Social Bucks” notwithstanding) in multiple ways so why engage?  A modest amount of advertising with a positive message is quite enough. (More of the SOTU style hard punching will come later)

In the meantime there’s not much point in spending a huge amount on advertising. Instead, Biden will I think continue to spend a large percentage of the huge amount of money he’s raising on boring old fundamental stuff. WINNING is what matters and making sure your voters are able to cast their votes. Or aren’t trick-bagged by GOPers into messing up their mail-in ballots or showing up at the wrong polling location. Having trained people everywhere to ensure poll workers provide accurate information to voters with questions or problems (so they can cast a provisional ballot that WILL be counted).  Counting the vote fairly and accurately despite the planned army of MAGA that will be right there, just feet away trying to intimidate them and finally good. And of course having well trained lawyers down at the county level to start fighting on election night to protect the results is what matters.

And the short article I’ve referenced indicates that all along Biden has been not only making sure the basic stuff is well covered, his team is trying to anticipate and be ready to counter new threats, or at least much more intense ones than have been seen in the past:

Key to this strategy, sources say, are draft pleadings and legal motions prepared for a variety of possible emergencies related to Trump’s tactics, with Biden’s legal contingents bracing for a scenario that could “make Florida in 2000 look like child’s play.” A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee confirmed the national party’s commitment, stating, “We won’t let Republicans get away with these baseless attacks on our democracy, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to strengthen our democracy as MAGA extremists attempt to tear it down.

Like Obama before him, Biden’s got this. WE have to do our part though and get engaged to help make sure what he’s been creating has the people to put it into practice.