NEW: Behind the scenes, the warren campaign is building all tv/digital/graphic production in-house (+ all digital ad-buying.
campaign tells me it won’t pay commissions to media consultants for primary/general.
Joe Rospars is officially chief strategist politico.com/story/2019/07/…
Combined w/ the no fundraisers, no outside pollster, and the early investment in staff instead of stockpiling resources for the usual TV ad blitz at the end, the in-house media moves are a rebuke of and an attempt to disrupt the consultant-heavy campaign model.
Some media consultants see this as purity politics gone awry and, perhaps unsurprisingly, see the campaign needlessly shunning expertise.
The ascension of Rospars to chief strategist (digital strategists for Obama’s 2 campaigns) is a signal that the campaign is producing the campaign w/ smartphones and comp as the main medium instead of TV. some experts think TV still critical given older people watch/vote more
Rospars is, somewhat ironically, technically a consultant on the campaign and is being paid through his firm Blue State Digital even as he is in many ways the architect and builder of this in-house approach that rebuffs the consultant-heavy model.
Here’s Rospar: "Campaigns offer a chance not only to tell people what kind of president you’ll be, but to show it. She’s running her campaign the way she intends to govern: willing to question existing power structures, making decisions grounded in evidence” (full quote here)
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If Obama directly pushed Biden to not to run, Biden aides told Axios it could make POTUS even more resolved to stay in the race
A former Biden aide said: "Obama already used that chit in 2016 when his team lobbied him against running. You don't get to do that more than once."
When Trump beat Clinton in 2016, Biden felt guilty for not running himself and furious at the people who pushed him not to.
Some Biden aides see parallels to the current situation w/ some of the same ppl saying he should step aside even as he believes he’s the most electable
New: Current and former Biden aides are worried that Biden is now surrounded by a shrinking group of "yes" men and women who block negative information from getting to him.
My look w/ @HansNichols at the small group of aides Biden is relying on more
Since the debate, Biden is relying even more on longtime advisers Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, and Bruce Reed — a trio sometimes referred to inside the WH as "the poobahs," "the grey hairs" and, less often, "the triumvirate."
They are as close to family as staffers can get.
The WH now is being run by "the family and staff who are effectively family," a group that also includes FLOTUS’ top aide Anthony Bernal and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini
Bernal is seen internally as the "loyalty police” now, 2 ppl said.
Re: the growing criticism of biden, the Clooney op-ed etc, Morning Joe says:
“The Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this”
Despite repeated WH denials of any Obama-Biden tension and the public bromance displays, Biden friend Joe Scarborough says:
"Joe Biden is deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton"
These are two WH denials to me just in the past few months:
"The Biden and Obama families are like family to one other, and whomever made these claims about that relationship isn't familiar with it."
"As President Biden has said, President Obama is family to him"
Scoop: A look at the template that the WH sends to staffers organizing events for POTUS.
"I staffed a simple fundraiser at a private residence, but they treated it like it was a NATO summit with his movements," a person who staffed a Biden event said. axios.com/2024/07/07/bid…
Since the debate, some Dems who've attended and helped set up Biden events have wondered whether his team's focus on minute details were to obscure POTUS's limitations — rather than just a reflection of a meticulous staff.
Reality check: Organizing POTUS events is intensive and detail-focused for every president.
VP Harris' spokesperson Kirsten Allen told Axios: "These documents are standard logistical briefing materials and photos for any principal, including the VP."
From 10am to 4pm, Biden is dependably engaged — and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours.
Outside of that time range or while traveling abroad, the other Biden is more likely to emerge and have verbal miscues and become fatigued, aides say.
WH’s response: there "is one Joe Biden, who works his heart out fighting for families like the one he grew up in in Scranton, and who, because of his determination, experience and decency, keeps achieving unprecedented results for them."
New: internal finger pointing begins starting w/ Biden’s debate prep team.
"He was over-prepared and relying on minutiae when all that mattered was vigor and energy," one person in Biden's orbit told Axios. "They prepared him for the wrong debate”
"It's sad but it also makes me so mad to think of all the smart people lying and trying to make this work," a former Biden White House official told Axios.
“Disaster” a former admin official said.
“DEFCON 1,” said David Plouffe.
W/ @HansNichols
@HansNichols Biden wanted to debate, his team proposed the timing of it, and set the ground rules.
Those close to Biden were split on whether they should accept Trump's challenge but Biden — who at times doesn't realize how old he can come across — wanted to face-off against Trump.