Former US vice president Joe Biden, the newest Democratic presidential candidate, will hit the campaign trail in earnest on Monday with a rally before union members who have been a mainstay of his and the party’s support.
For his first public event since announcing his candidacy last Thursday, Biden chose Pennsylvania, the state where he was born 76 years ago — and more specifically Pittsburgh, a blue-collar city now remaking itself as a tech hub.
Perhaps best-known as former president Barack Obama’s two-term deputy, Biden has set himself apart from most of the sprawling Democratic field by opting for a strategy of full-on confrontation with President Donald Trump.
He accuses the current Republican president of undermining long-time American values.
Whether that approach appeals to voters — or if they prefer other Democrats’ focus on issues like healthcare, the environment and infrastructure — will become clear in coming months.
But Biden, with name recognition, earned not just with Obama but in his 36 years representing the state of Delaware in the Senate, starts out with a leg up over other Democrats.
A Washington Post/ABC poll on Sunday put him in the lead among Democrats, with 17 percent support, to 11 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders and five percent for South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Source: Guardian Newspaper
