Less than a year from now, we will be casting our votes for the next White House administration. Now that the political season ramps up, the Obama administration is starting to move its pawns and rooks around the chess board. This week they announced that Vice President Joe Biden will concentrate his efforts on three key battlegrounds: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Biden Uses Working Class Roots To Win Votes…
Photo by Phil Sandlin / AP
There are 67 electoral votes up for grabs in these swing states. Although Obama won all three states in the last election, the shaky economy has left him with an uphill battle, especially in Ohio and Florida where Republican governors won terms in the 2010 midterm elections.
Biden is said to have great rapport with working class and Jewish voters, which make up a large part of the constituency in the places he plans to visit. Biden himself is from a working class family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, so he has a believable “I know what you’re going through” appeal that the President himself lacks.
“Talking to blue-collar voters is perhaps his greatest attribute,” Republican political analyst Dan Schnur explains to The Houston Chronicle. “Obama provides the speeches, and Biden provides the blue-collar subtitles.”
The VEEP Raises Cash & Makes Friends…
So far, Biden has canvassed these areas lightly this fall on public speaking events, making phone calls, meeting with union leaders and raising campaign funds. He’s also expected to make stops in Iowa and New Hampshire over the next few weeks, before the January caucus.
Sheriff Joe Talks Tough…
When you’re the President, you need to appear distinguished and fair. Any harsh language and your critics will be nipping mercilessly at your heels. Vice Presidents, on the other hand, have always had more leeway. During a speech at the Florida Democratic Convention, Joe criticized Mitt Romney for saying the government should have let the housing market hit rock bottom rather than providing any assistance and he fired at Rick Perry for saying he’d send troops into Mexico. He also added that “there is no fundamental difference” between the Republican candidates. In the game of “good cop, bad cop,” Obama will focus on governance matters, while Attack Dog Biden tears into the fleshy underbelly of the Republican party. The Republicans will need to come up with a sharp shooter like Newt Gingrich to hold his own against Biden’s pointed rhetoric.
The Game-Changer…
New York Rep. Steve Israel believes that Biden could be “a game-changer” in some key swing state districts. ”All he has to do is ask voters, has the Republican strategy of no worked for you?” Israel explains. This is the Vice President’s role at its best. Aside from assuming the presidency should anything happen to our chief commander, winning hearts and minds is the #2′s most prized role.
