Raising $364 million in one month allows a presidential candidate to do a lot of things—including rapidly launch a TV ad blitz aimed at crucial battleground state voters. Here is a first look at three new Joe Biden ads—entitled “Defend,” “Personal,” and “Reeling”—that will debut Thursday morning on national cable TV plus local stations in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—while President Donald Trump’s campaign is dark in five of those states.
The trio of spots attempts to build on Biden’s speech in Pittsburgh early this week, hammering home the message that the Democrat could keep the country safer than Trump has—physically, economically, and emotionally—in dealing with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the issue that remains voters’ top worry in polls. “Defend” is a one-minute clip from Biden’s Democratic convention speech and is unusual in style, with no music, text overlays, or other gimmicks, just the candidate and the camera. “Personal” connects Biden’s tragic family losses with the widespread anxiety over healthcare coverage—oh, and with his pal, President Barack Obama. “Reeling” extends the medical insurance and public health crisis theme, with Biden promising to “take care of your family…the same way I would my own.” Together the three ads are a strategic mix of heart-tugging and reassuring.
A fourth ad, “Be Not Afraid,” which the campaign previewed on Tuesday, is also part of the new Biden safety package, but it has a different tone—featuring photos of burned out, post-protest buildings and Biden sternly declaring, “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting…and those who do it should be prosecuted,” before pivoting to pin the blame on Trump: “He can’t stop the violence, because for years he’s fomented it.” Is the Biden campaign concerned it has a vulnerability on the law-and-order front? “No,” says Matt Hill, a Biden campaign press secretary. “The ad is driving a real, key contrast, which is that Joe Biden has forcefully articulated violence is unacceptable while protesting, and Trump has not.”
The $45 million that Biden is spending across TV and digital outlets this week is $18 million more than he spent on media during the entire Democratic primary—another reminder of how quickly he’s gone from running on campaign budgetary fumes to becoming a financial juggernaut. Biden is also ahead in the polls right now, but it’s going to take a whole lot more than cash and ads to maintain that edge through November.
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