It’s Wednesday, so President Biden will be out and about.
Later today, Mr. Biden will travel to Wisconsin to deliver a speech in Racine about his economic agenda. Vice President Kamala Harris is also on the road, traveling to Philadelphia to speak out on proposed abortion rights.
Last Wednesday, Ms. Harris flew to Jacksonville, Florida, to try to portray former President Donald J. Trump as the face of Florida’s newly enacted six-week abortion ban. In other recent Wednesdays, Mr. Biden signed legislation for a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan; adopted an important work recommendation; and traveled to Pittsburgh to call for new tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China.
What’s special about Wednesday? The hectic pace of Biden-Harris activities and midweek travel has to do in part with the fact that Mr. Trump’s trial in Manhattan takes a break on Wednesdays, leaving the former president with only that day and weekends to campaign.
By holding events on Wednesdays and putting Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris in the public spotlight, the White House and the Biden campaign are stifling one of the few days when Mr. Trump could drive media coverage on his own. That will keep the focus on his trial or create a split-screen day between the two presidential rivals – a valuable contrast as voters in battleground states weigh their options, Biden advisers believe.
The Biden campaign planned to kick off the news cycle this Wednesday by announcing $14 million in new advertising in battleground states. On a call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, provided few details about the spending beyond publication on television and digital platforms with a focus on live sports. He pointed out that an ad about abortion was run during Saturday’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby. Mr. Biden also plans to take part in an interview with CNN scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Mr. Trump’s campaign has run almost no advertising on television since he won the Republican nomination and has little presence in digital advertising, according to firms that track political spending.
“The Trump team and outside groups are hoping for the best as they spend their free time on the golf course or elsewhere,” Tyler said.
For his part, Mr. Trump has maintained a relatively tight campaign schedule since his criminal trial began in New York on April 15. He had scheduled a rally in North Carolina for April 20, but canceled it because of bad weather. He will be at Mar-a-Lago, his home and club in Florida, on Wednesday, but no campaign events are planned.
“Crooked Joe spends his days shuffling his feet like a short-circuited Roomba,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman. “The fact is that he must take responsibility for the out-of-control border, soaring inflation and rising crime rates that have decimated every American.”
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2024-05-08 09:07:08
www.nytimes.com