In the days and weeks before the next presidential debate, leading Democrats have taken steps to help inoculate themselves from expected criticism
Joe Biden ditched decades of tough-on-crime advocacy to run under the banner of criminal justice reform. Ex-prosecutor Kamala Harris proposed decriminalizing pot. Pete Buttigieg, polling at near zero among black voters, unveiled a plan to address systemic racism.
Even Biden, who preferred the statesmanlike tranquility of a Rose Garden strategy, is flipping the tables on the others. After his debate-stage flop, Biden tussled with Sanders and called out Harris on health care while defending his more incremental approach to delivery. Biden’s first big offensive, which spiraled into a full-scale confrontation with Booker over criminal justice, emerged after the former vice president released goals aimed at tackling mass incarceration and reducing “racial, gender and income-based disparities in the system.
Harris has kept a lower profile. But by Wednesday night, Biden was openly swinging at both senators. “I’m not going to be as polite this time,” he vowed at a fundraiser in Detroit. poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201907/426/1155968404_6064376631001_6064369239001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404"Some rivals privately questioned Booker’s willingness to engage with Biden so openly before the debate, arguing he’s sacrificed the element of surprise that worked so well for Harris. Julián Castro also made waves by unexpectedly taking on fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke on immigration in the first debate.
Colin Strother, contending that the top- and mid-tier candidates should be on the lookout for hits not only from their peers, but from the 10 or more low-polling Democrats in danger of missing the September stage.
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