{"id":23992,"date":"2024-02-21T03:06:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T09:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23992"},"modified":"2024-02-21T03:06:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T09:06:35","slug":"biden-tells-california-supporters-to-stay-focused-on-whats-at-stake-in-reelection-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23992","title":{"rendered":"Biden tells California supporters to stay focused on what\u2019s at stake in reelection battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden<\/u><\/a> kicked off a three-day fundraising sprint in California, making the case to supporters to stay focused on what\u2019s at stake in his reelection battle where he will likely again face Donald Trump in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In remarks at a campaign reception on the grounds of billionaire Haim Saban\u2019s Los Angeles home, Biden told supporters that a Trump win could lead to a nationwide abortion ban<\/u><\/a>, more Republican efforts to undo Obamacare and a deteriorating American reputation on the world stage. Biden also addressed head-on the concerns among his supporters and detractors alike about his age \u2014 a lingering issue that\u2019s become a drag on his reelection hopes<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI may not run as fast as I used to. I may not be able to play flanker back at Delaware,\u201d Biden told the audience that included actor Jane Fonda and comedian Greg Proops. \u201cBut I tell you what … I\u2019ve been around long enough to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president will also make campaign stops in San Francisco and Los Altos Hills this week and will deliver a policy speech near Los Angeles on Wednesday, in an effort to collect as much cash as he can for his reelection bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going into the trip, Biden\u2019s campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced that they had collected $42 million in contributions during January from 422,000 donors. Biden ended January with $130 million in cash on hand. Campaign officials said that is the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate at this point in the cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez called the haul \u201can indisputable show of strength to start the election year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile Team Biden-Harris continues to build on its fundraising machine, Republicans are divided \u2013 either spending money fighting Donald Trump, or spending money in support of Donald Trump\u2019s extreme and losing agenda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures suggest Biden is cementing an early cash advantage over Trump<\/u><\/a>. But the numbers still lag what Trump had amassed during a similar period in 2020, when his campaign routinely smashed fundraising records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising money is only part of the equation. How well that cash is spent is also a major factor \u2014 as Trump well knows. His 2020 campaign effectively lit his massive cash surpluses on fire through a series of questionable spending decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Trump retains his impressive ability to hoover up campaign cash, particularly from grassroots donors who typically chip in small amounts online. Trump, who hasn\u2019t released his January fundraising numbers yet, also faces a new threat to his campaign\u2019s finances: the staggering legal bills he racked up while defending himself in four separate criminal cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to maintain an edge in what\u2019s widely expected to be an expensive rematch with Trump, Biden\u2019s campaign will need to accelerate his fundraising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s trip marks Biden\u2019s third visit to California in just over two months for political events. He\u2019s trying to make up for lost time after largely avoiding the Democratic donor stronghold<\/u><\/a> during last year\u2019s strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His hosts on Tuesday weren\u2019t in attendance; they both tested positive for COVID-19. Biden wished them a speedy recovery as he spoke to the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to contrast the choice between Trump and me,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to make it crystal clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden also criticized Trump for not speaking more forcefully about last week\u2019s death of Russian political activist Alexei Navalny. Russian officials said that Navalny, Russia\u2019s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin\u2019s fiercest foe, died suddenly in prison on Friday<\/u><\/a>. The circumstances surrounding Navalny\u2019s death have not been fully determined, but Biden has said Putin is ultimately responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump in his first comment on his social media site two days after Navalny\u2019s death was announced appeared to compare his own legal battles to the plight of the activist who was serving a 19-year sentence<\/u><\/a> on charges of extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Navalny died last week and the world holds Putin responsible, Trump fails to even condemn it,\u201d Biden said. \u201cIt\u2019s outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden made a quick visit to Los Angeles earlier this month for a meeting with supporters in the city\u2019s upscale Bel Air neighborhood. He and first lady Jill Biden<\/u><\/a> also spent a weekend in December in the Los Angeles area for campaign events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first lady traveled Tuesday to Guilford, Connecticut, to hold a campaign fundraiser on behalf of her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Bidens will be pursuing deep-pocketed donors this week, the campaign points to the number of smaller donations it has raised as an encouraging sign for the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign says 97% of the 3 million donations it has received thus far were under $200 each. Biden has also received pledges from 158,000 \u201csustaining donors\u201d who have committed to donating monthly. That\u2019s more than double the amount Biden had at this point in the 2020 cycle, when his cash-strapped campaign limped out of Iowa following a fourth-place finish in the state\u2019s February caucuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new totals include donations to Biden\u2019s political operation and to a network of joint fundraising arrangements with the national and state Democratic parties. Biden\u2019s 2020 campaign raised over $1 billion, and could need even more in a likely Trump rematch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden in recent days has seized on comments by Trump that call into question the U.S. commitment to defend NATO allies from attack as \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201cun-American.\u201d Trump earlier this month said he once warned that he would allow Russia<\/u><\/a> to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are \u201cdelinquent\u201d in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden campaign launched digital ads last week in three battleground states \u2014 Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania \u2014 criticizing Trump for his threat to NATO countries. Biden has also railed against House Republicans<\/u><\/a> for blocking a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes $60 billion in funding for Ukraine\u2019s war with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day fundraising sprint in California, making the case to supporters to stay focused on what\u2019s at stake in his reelection battle where he will likely again face Donald Trump in November. In remarks at a campaign reception on the grounds of billionaire Haim Saban\u2019s Los Angeles home, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1169,1189,1637,1205,26751,26750],"class_list":["post-23992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-biden","tag-california","tag-campaign","tag-president","tag-reelection-battle","tag-stakes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23994,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23992\/revisions\/23994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}