Top lawmakers and operatives in the Biden circle believe Joe Biden’s re-campaign is on shaky ground as he slips behind Trump in the polls and campaign cash. “You don’t want to be that guy who is on the record saying we’re doomed, or the campaign’s bad or Biden’s making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that guy,” an operative close to the president told Politico, before conceding that there was a full-blown “freakout” underway. Another campaign adviser said “the list of why we ‘could’ win is so small I don’t even need to keep the list on my phone.” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey similarly upped the ante at a Biden campaign fundraising event in April, sternly telling a group of big-money donors to “think long and hard” when considering the stakes of the election after being cajoled by the room. “There’s still a path to win this, but they don’t look like a campaign that’s embarking on that path right now,” Democratic strategist Pete Giangreco told Politico. Other Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY), Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-MI) and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine similarly expressed their doubts about the direction the campaign is going.
