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Candidates need to pick their spots and work their strongest angles in the right forum. The Joe Biden campaign did that well during this convention. He is the bipartisanship guy. He didnât run from that â he owned it, and made the case for a return to an American president.
Each night offered something for multiple audiences. They led with Michelle, who was a balm to the Democratic soul; they sweetly and effectively introduced Jill Biden; they had Colin Powell & a night of pure woman power and allowed Kamala to shine. Prez Obama laid out the stakes.
The Biden family was at the heart of it all, and they are exactly what youâd expect: a loving, close-knit group that has endured great pain and loss but has remained resolute. Biden in his speech effectively pitched himself to those most like him: white working class families.
The overall patina of the week touched every conceivable group of Americans. It will be really hard to caricature Biden as some mentally slow or radical man, no matter how much the Republicans want and need to. He came across as a traditional, decent, responsible, capable man.
Biden got a lot of help from Donald Trump of course, who has styled himself the president of a cult of personality, the president of the religious right, the president of Qâanon... 
and a kind of American warden of Russia, but not an American president in the basic sense.
and a kind of American warden of Russia, but not an American president in the basic sense.
And between the Senate Intel Committeeâs scathing Russia report and yet another indictment of a member of Trumpâs 2016 campaign claque (Bannon is number SEVEN) plus Trumpâs Qâanon embrace, the counterprogramming this week has been ruinous to Trump.
The Democratic convention managed to balance dire warnings about what it would mean to confer the idea of a president for all Americans to the dustbin of history and to toss democracy overboard in favor of corruption, global isolation and autocracy & tosurrender to the pandemic..
...with an effective inoculation of Joe Biden, who was shown by his numerous character witnesses: his family, colleagues, Republicans, generals, even strangers he has encountered, to be a good man, who loves this country and wants it to be better.
Progressives and younger voters were much less the target this week, though letâs be real, young folks donât watch TV so if youâre trying to reach them via a convention, youâre losing. But Biden showed that he recognizes that his super power is peeling off white voters.
...while he also showed he respects the Black voters who chose him over 20-something other candidates, by paying respect via his running mate choice, and through his utter loyalty to his âbrother,â the first Black president.
Last thing: I suspect this video-driven format survives this cycle. And I canât imagine how the Republicans follow this next week. Or actually I can... buckle your seatbelts...
And one last-last thing: Braydon won the week.
