Insiders Worried That Biden's Plan Might Backfire

Some fear that the Democratic Party’s ‘fetish for rules’ could hurt them, but others say it’s clear the election has basically already been decided

- Andrew Feinberg

Of the myriad ways the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the race for the presidency, none has raised Democrats’ hackles like the way it has caused campaigns — most notably that of former Vice President Joe Biden — to curtail the in-person events and traditional door-to-door voter outreach that have long been seen as a harbinger of success on Election Day.

Six months after the unchecked spread of the virus forced most Americans from their offices and schools in mid-March, President Trump has more or less resumed what resembles a normal campaign schedule, complete with rallies (often held in open-air venues such as airport hangars). Yet Biden has largely eschewed in-person campaigning, save for events with limited numbers of attendees (often just a “pool” of reporters who feed details to the rest of the press corps) arranged to respect socially distancing guidelines with the help of circles marked on venue floors.

Top Democrats and sources familiar with the reasoning of those in Biden’s brain trust say the decision is meant to position the former Vice President as a model of leadership by example. To that end, the Biden campaign is not employing any in-person voter contact methods in the run-up to the election and is instead relying on an aggressive program of virtual phone-banking and peer-to-peer texting to drive turnout.