US Presidential Elections: Concerns Biden Might Be Outgunned By Trump

By Staff, Agencies

As Joe Biden squares off against a bevy of Democratic challengers at a US presidential debate Tuesday, his fiercest opponent will not be sharing the stage with him.

The former vice president is the only Democrat currently fighting a two-front war: one against the other contenders seeking his party’s nomination and a second, more brutal one against Republican President Donald Trump.

Some of his top backers worry Biden will lack the resources he needs for a sustained conflict. Biden has struggled with online fundraising and, unlike past Democrats, refuses donations from lobbyists and is not supported by a well-funded political action committee, known as a Super PAC.

When it comes to combating Trump, Biden is bringing “a knife to a gunfight,” said John Morgan, a Florida trial lawyer and a leading fundraiser for Biden.

Biden “doesn’t need a gun. He needs a bazooka,” Morgan added.

While the November 2020 general election remains a year away and the Democratic nominee remains to be chosen, Trump and his allies have made Biden their top target, repeatedly alleging - without offering evidence - that Biden improperly tried to aid his son Hunter’s business interests in Ukraine and China.

Trump now faces an impeachment inquiry in the US House of Representatives centering on the president pressuring a vulnerable ally, Ukraine, to investigate the Bidens for his own political benefit. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

Trump’s re-election campaign has committed millions for television ads that push the same allegations against Biden, with a focus on early voting states in the party nomination battle including Iowa and New Hampshire. It has been joined in that effort by Great America PAC, a pro-Trump committee.

Biden, for his part, has tried to counter with his own early state ad blitz that calls the president “unhinged.”

But with fundraising of $15 million in the year’s third quarter, he is facing a juggernaut in the Trump campaign, which had raised $125 million along with the Republican National Committee in the same period. Biden’s fundraising also trails his leading Democratic rivals, US Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, each of whom raised around $25 million last quarter.