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Why Joe Biden Thinks He Can Ignore His Many Democratic Rivals

On his trip to Iowa last week, Joseph R. Biden Jr. attacked President Trump, but generally avoided discussing his Democratic primary opponents.Credit...Rachel Mummey for The New York Times

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — In a field of 23 Democratic candidates for president, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is campaigning as if he is running alone.

Over the past eight days, Mr. Biden celebrated a granddaughter’s graduation with the family of Barack Obama while 19 of his opponents fought for breakout moments at a party gathering in Iowa, and he spent his own visit to Iowa locked in a ferocious exchange of attacks with President Trump, waving off questions about his Democratic competitors.

He has invested less time in the early-voting primary states than many of his rivals, while also appearing in general-election battlegrounds like Pennsylvania and Ohio. And in New York on Monday and Tuesday, he is scheduled to headline high-dollar fund-raisers at a time when some of his opponents are seeking distance from Wall Street.

[We want to hear from you. What do you want to see from the Democratic debates?]

In ways big and small, Mr. Biden’s choices underscore his determination to play by his own rules in the Democratic primary, gambling that his widespread name recognition and status as early poll-leader free him to set a pace and tone sharply distinct from his competitors. And as his decades-long record in government comes under increasing criticism from his party’s left flank, Mr. Biden keeps bringing attention back to November 2020.

“Who is most likely to be able to beat President Trump?” he said to reporters after hosting a campaign event here in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, last week. “Because if that doesn’t happen, nothing changes.”

That emphasis on Mr. Trump — and brushoff of his opponents — is the right approach for Mr. Biden right now, many political veterans say. Whether he can maintain that strategy is another question, as other candidates intensify their attacks on him, and some gain ground in key early-voting states like Iowa. The first debates, too, will place Mr. Biden, the former vice president, in the same arena as his rivals while providing them the chance to pressure him on his record of relatively moderate political stances.

[See the lineups for the first Democratic debates here.]

“The more time he’s explaining his record, the more trouble he’s going to get into,” said Jim Hodges, the Democratic former governor of South Carolina, calling Mr. Biden’s approach typical for a “front-runner.”

“The more time he’s comparing the Obama-Biden administration to Trump-Pence, the better off he is. That’s a classic strategy,” Mr. Hodges said. “But I do not believe it is one he’s going to be able to sustain over a long period of time.”

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Mr. Biden spoke at a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Columbus, Ohio, this month while most of his Democratic rivals were at a party gathering in California.Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

But for now, that above-the-fray approach is a defining element of Mr. Biden’s campaign. Nowhere was that clearer than in Iowa last week.

Mr. Biden made his second trip to the state as a 2020 candidate, days after facing some of the most intense Democratic backlash of his nascent campaign following a reversal of his support for the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding for abortion.

But he generally refused to engage in questions about his opponents, ignoring chances to draw contrasts with other Democrats even as they have signaled growing willingness to take swipes at him.

What was his message to voters interested in a fresh face?

“Vote for a new person then,” Mr. Biden, 76, told reporters.

As for those who want to support a woman?

“You should! Want to vote for a woman? Vote for a woman.”

Instead, he trained his attention squarely on Mr. Trump, who was happy to engage in return, resulting in the fiercest day of political clashes in the 2020 campaign to date. It was a split-screen image of what a matchup between the two men might look like; the former vice president called Mr. Trump “an existential threat” to the country and cast himself as the candidate best equipped to oust him from the White House.

Steve Drahozal, the chairman of the Dubuque County Democratic Party in Iowa, said that Mr. Biden’s Trump-centric message appealed to many Democrats. The bigger concerns he hears, Mr. Drahozal said, are tied to Mr. Biden’s age and his tendencies toward centrism.

“I have heard people express concerns that he is too moderate,” he said.

Overtly and implicitly, progressives and some of Mr. Biden’s rivals have in recent weeks criticized his long history of grappling with abortion rights, his vote for the Iraq war, his record on criminal justice matters and his instinct for emphasizing bipartisanship.

“Some say if we’d all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said earlier this month. “But our country is in a time of crisis.”

Her comments came at a Democratic gathering in California where 14 candidates chose to speak, trying to strengthen ties in a crucial early-voting state offering a trove of delegates. That same weekend, Mr. Biden stood alone on a stage in Columbus, Ohio, in the heart of the industrial Midwest, to deliver an impassioned speech in support of L.G.B.T. equality, but also to project strength in territory that has tilted right in the Trump era.

“Look at what the Chamber’s doing,” Mr. Biden said, an apparent approving reference to the conservative-leaning Chamber of Commerce, as he noted growing support for L.G.B.T. rights. “Look at what the business community is doing. Guess what? They figured it out.”

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Biden Has a Long Record. Will This Help or Hurt Him?

Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a two-term vice president and spent 36 years as a senator. But his front-runner status in the Democratic primary will be tested by the party’s desire for generational change.

A former vice president known for — “My love affair with Amtrak.” “Back on Amtrak” — and his famous friend. “This also gives the internet one last chance to talk about our bromance.” Joe Biden is running for president. “Today, I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States. He’s tried it before. “And with the grace of God and the support of the American people, I mean to be that kind of president.” Twice. “This is not about experience. It’s not about change. It’s about action.” So, why does he think the third time’s a charm? Biden may be betting that in this politically tumultuous time, voters are looking for a familiar face. He arrived in Washington before C-Span existed and before these members of Congress were born. His credentials are unmatched in the Democratic Party. He served two terms as vice president, 36 years in the Senate and has chaired powerful congressional committees. And he’s earned himself a few nicknames along the way. “Working-Class Joe.” “Working-Class Joe Biden.” “Old Uncle Joe Biden.” “Crazy Uncle Joe Biden, just being Biden.” So, what are Biden’s priorities? He’s a moderate Democrat and is likely to focus on: expanding health care, investing in education and rebuilding relationships with allies. “The America I see does not wish to turn our back on the world or our allies. We will be back.” But his decadeslong record comes with some baggage, including his support for the Iraq war. “President Bush is right to be concerned about Saddam Hussein’s relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.” Tough anti-crime policies. “First, we have to join together to ensure that drug dealers are punished swiftly, surely and severely.” And his role in the Anita Hill hearing. “It is appropriate to ask Professor Hill anything any member wishes to ask her to plumb the depths of her credibility.” More recently, several women have come forward saying they were uncomfortable with the way Biden touched them. “I feel Joe Biden put his hands on my shoulders, get up very close to me from behind, lean in, smell my hair and then plant a slow kiss on the top of my head.” Biden responded on Twitter. “The boundaries of protected personal space have been reset and I get it. I will be more mindful and respectful of people’s personal space. So, how has Biden taken on President Trump? They’ve had their share of fighting words. “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.” Trump shot back on Twitter, and said Biden “would go down fast and hard, crying all the way.” Biden later said he regretted his comments. So, what are Biden’s odds? He entered the race as an instant front-runner and he’s already leading in early polls. But as a white man in his late 70s, Biden’s test will be whether his popularity can outweigh the party’s thirst for generational change.

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Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a two-term vice president and spent 36 years as a senator. But his front-runner status in the Democratic primary will be tested by the party’s desire for generational change.CreditCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

Mr. Biden’s campaign, which began later than most of his opponents’, has had a lighter footprint in the early-voting primary states, though his team has started to increase that presence in recent weeks. He has also skipped several events that drew many in the field — including the Iowa gathering and the party convention in California — but is expected at a number of multicandidate events in South Carolina this weekend.

“Just because you don’t see him hold an event at a restaurant, something of that nature, does not mean he’s not campaigning for president,” said Representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, national co-chairman of Mr. Biden’s campaign. “His call demand is, I am sure of this, higher than anyone else’s, because I get calls all day every day saying, ‘Hey, this person says they haven’t talked to the vice president yet.’ If I’m fielding those calls all day just as a member of Congress, then I know what the vice president is getting directly.”

[Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics.]

Mr. Biden was one of several contenders to address a poverty-focused conference in Washington on Monday, where he said that if he becomes the Democratic nominee, he planned to win traditionally Republican-leaning states including Georgia and North Carolina, as well as deep-red South Carolina, a state Democrats haven’t won at the presidential level in decades.

The former vice president is also in the process of rolling out policy proposals, though he lags behind a number of his opponents on that front as well. The former vice president often makes the case that no Democratic plan is possible without first defeating Mr. Trump, bringing the focus back to the campaign’s overriding objective.

It is a contrast with the boldly progressive visions outlined by many of his opponents who don’t dwell as much on the current political stalemate in Washington.

Mr. Biden has so far released two plans, on climate and education — his climate plan in particular surprised some progressives with its far-reaching goals — and he is expected to release other plans on issues like health care soon.

Mr. Biden has also been fund-raising aggressively, under pressure to produce a strong showing for this quarter, the first for which he will report his campaign’s finances. He has allowed the news media to cover the events, while many other campaigns keep their fund-raisers more private. But those gatherings have given other candidates fodder for criticism — particularly, as Ms. Warren has suggested, his ties to “high-dollar donors” and “corporate lobbyists.” Mr. Biden’s campaign has said it does not accept money from federally registered lobbyists or corporate political action committees, though some lobbyists have attended his fund-raisers.

Some Democrats have privately observed that the progressives who are bothered by big fund-raisers are unlikely to support Mr. Biden anyway, and point out that despite pursuing elite donors, Mr. Biden continues to maintain a commanding national lead in the polls.

“We have never had a Democrat win the White House by handicapping themselves financially,” said Rufus Gifford, who served as the finance director of Mr. Obama’s 2012 campaign. He has co-hosted a fund-raiser for Mr. Biden but is unaligned in the race, and is supporting several other candidates, too.

“With stakes as high in this election,” he added, “trying to change those rules right now is a big mistake.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Atop the Polls, Biden Tries to Stay Above the Democratic Fray. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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