Since President Joe Biden announced his re-election bid in April, he has hardly campaigned. The president has attended just one 2024 rally, a June event in Philadelphia sponsored by many of the nation’s top labor unions.
Now, Biden is ramping up his primary campaign… and he’s sending his old boss to do his bidding for him.
The Biden campaign is offering donors the chance to meet himself and former President Barack Obama, putting the 44th president into the 2024 election during the Democratic primary.
An email to supporters urged them to donate for a chance to “meet President Biden and President Obama” and featured a hypothetical text message chain where Biden writes “Hey pal, what do you say we band together to thank some grassroots supporters in person” and Obama replies “See you there” together with a smiling emoji wearing sunglasses.
Biden also tweeted, “You and a guest could win a trip to meet @BarackObama and me” over a photo of the two posing for a selfie.
Earlier this month, a poll from The New York Times and Siena College rated the next presidential election as a toss-up between Biden and former President Donald Trump. It was the outlet’s first poll of the 2024 cycle.
Now, the Biden campaign is scrambling… and it recruited Obama 15 months before the election.
Obama has frequently campaigned for his former vice president and Democratic leaders around the country, though usually not this early in the campaign cycle.
During the last election, Obama refrained from taking sides during the Democrats’ competitive 2020 presidential primary. He waited until April 2020 to endorse Biden, his former vice president.
Take a look at this 2020 flashback… and this year’s counterpart.
I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let's go: https://t.co/maHVGRozkX
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2020
You and a guest could win a trip to meet @BarackObama and me.
Donate today for a chance to win: https://t.co/qNqLOhorMl pic.twitter.com/SpS86KpnRt
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 9, 2023
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.