The front-runners for their party’s presidential nomination, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, are barely campaigning in crucial early-voting states as the primary season enters the fall rush.
“When you have a massive lead over your primary opponents, it doesn’t seem like a lot of point,” said veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres, speaking about the early-state campaigning typical at this stage of a race.
His trips to jails and courthouses in New York, Miami, Washington and Atlanta have dominated coverage of the race, with his movements tracked by news helicopters and broadcast live on television and across the internet. His historic, now featured on T-shirts, mugs and posters, helped his campaign raise more than $20 million in August alone.
Aides say he has also focused on relationship building, calling party officials and recording videos for state and county party events. Such efforts, they say, have helped him earn him earn endorsements from senators, members of Congress and statewide officials. Biden's reelection campaign says his approach mirrors that of past incumbents, including Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Biden is frequently promoting his policy achievements but keeping campaign costs low, while working with national and state Democrats to bolster staff and data operations so that they will be in place when the race heats up next year.
Biden's Labor Day travels are taking him back to Philadelphia, site of his lone campaign rally. It was at the city's convention center, where some of theafter announcing that they had banded together for the first time to offer a joint endorsement of Biden.