Jonathan Last: “What you saw from Biden last night was the polar opposite in both temperament and strategy.”
“Biden is a back-slapper. He works well with his political opponents. He likes people—even people who aren’t on his side. He’s good at compromise and has real-world bills he wants to pass.”
“Biden is a politician and a persuader. That is fundamentally who he is and this fact informs his strategy. Biden is not banking on turning out 110 percent of Democratic voting benchmarks. He is not looking to bring in low-propensity voters who normally have little interest in politics.”
“His goal is to let Trump take care of Democratic turnout while he peels off 10 percent of self-identifies Republican voters (up from 8 percent in 2020) and then wins the double-doubter independents decisively.”
