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US-VOTE-DEMOCRATS-BIDEN-SUPPORTERS
For many Democrats desperate to beat Trump, Biden’s their man
PHILADELPHIA, May 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The crowded 2020 presidential race
features six women, three African Americans and a dozen youthful contenders.
But Denise Haley is going old school, supporting white male frontrunner Joe
Biden as the Democrat best positioned to beat Donald Trump.
“He could lead the nation and bring us back together,” Haley, who is
black, told AFP of the 76-year-old former vice president, reflecting what
appears to be a solidifying sentiment amid voters whose support has given
Biden a commanding poll lead.
Haley, a 60-year-old health care professional, was in the crowd Saturday
when Biden came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to address the biggest, most
boisterous rally of his four-week-old White House campaign.
Many attendees thrilled at Biden essentially sidestepping discussion of
the gruelling primary battle ahead and focusing on the general election face-
off with Republican Trump, whom he often attacked with explicit condemnation.
“Biden is Trump’s biggest rival and has the highest chance of kicking
Trump out of office,” high-schooler Ankita Kalasabail, who is 16 but will be
old enough to vote in 2020, said in explaining her support for a man 60 years
her senior.
“We need to beat Trump” and Biden has a stronger shot than the 22 other
Democratic candidates, said Mickey Kirzecky, a consultant.
Biden, a veteran Democrat who spent 36 year in the US Senate, boasts the
thickest resume of any candidate seeking to deny Trump a second term.
But crucially, said Kirzecky, he has a knack for connecting with all-
important blue-collar voters.
“I hate to use the word electability, but I think that’s part of what
comes into play,” she added, stressing Biden’s more moderate politics and his
popularity with working-class Americans — a constituency that helped Trump
win the White House in 2016.
“I think he might be a healing candidate,” she added.
The historically diverse race is cluttered with progressives vying for the
votes of Democrats witnessing their party’s steady leftward shift.
But Haley, the health professional, said her candidate criteria are based
not on skin-color, age, or gender, but capacity to win and to get the job
done.
“I don’t think you have to be a woman or an African-American to do that,”
she said. “I just think you have to be a strong leader and I think he (Biden)
shows those qualities.”
As for Biden being one of three septuagenarians in the race, along with
Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders, Norda Lewis brushed it aside.
“I don’t think that age matters,” said the 36-year-old teacher from the
Philadelphia suburbs, describing Biden as “a man for the people” who can
appeal to traditional Democrats, independents, and working-class Republicans.
– ‘We need good again’ –
John Lester, a graphic designer from Philadelphia, said Biden’s age could
become a concern, although “he does seem like a healthy guy.”
What draws him to Biden is the candidate’s “broader appeal” and moderate
politics, Lester, 61, said.
“I support the issues of diversity,” but moving too quickly toward a
liberal agenda at a time of deep political divisions might backfire, he
added.
“I like that fact that he’s steady and I trust him,” added Lester’s wife
Doreen. “I believe that he’s a good guy, and I think we need good again.”
Biden spent eight years in the White House with president Barack Obama,
and his close alliance with the nation’s first black commander in chief has
earned him strong support from the coveted African-American voting bloc.
But Biden’s legislative record and past actions, such as his treatment of
Anita Hill — the woman at the center of emblematic sex harassment hearings
in the Senate almost three decades ago — or his support for a crime bill
that led to mass incarcerations of black men, have come under scrutiny.
His tactile campaign style that has led women to accuse him of making them
uncomfortable also bolsters the notion of Biden as a politician slightly
behind the national current.
“I think that his time has passed,” Laura Benedetto, who works for an
education non-profit, said Friday at a Virginia campaign event featuring
liberal candidate Elizabeth Warren.
Biden’s campaign pushes back against the argument that he is a political
relic, or that he might lack the energy to mount an 18-month campaign.
“Vice president Biden is up to the challenge. He wouldn’t have gotten into
this race if he wasn’t,” senior advisor Symone Sanders told AFP.
“We’re up right now,” she said of the favorable polls, “but we are running
this race as if we’re the underdog.”
BSS/AFP/RY/12:16 hrs