Joe Biden’s Campaign Has a Problem

Dan Balz: “Joe Biden has a problem, and it’s not just that no Democrat has finished a weak fourth in the Iowa caucuses and gone on to become the party’s presidential nominee. The problem is Joe Biden the candidate.”

“Biden has been a lackluster advocate for his own candidacy, and the weakness of that advocacy was an unwelcome element of his campaign. In Iowa, it came crashing in on him. If he truly wants to be president, he doesn’t have to look far for answers as to what happened. His organization certainly failed him, but he contributed significantly to what happened there.”

“He has run the way others have as the comfortable expression of establishment Democratic politics. He has piled one endorsement upon another, hoping that surrogates will vouch for him in ways he’s not been able or willing to do for himself. But surrogates can do only so much. In the closing days, Biden struggled to make a compelling case for himself. At rallies, he lacked focus and sometimes appeared distracted, interrupting himself with asides or random thoughts.”

Edward-Isaac Dovere: How Biden blew it.