RACINE: Andrea Dyess, 57, was already a Joe Biden fan, but after meeting him in her neighborhood of Racine, Wisconsin, in May, she has been talking to anyone who will listen about giving him four more years in the White House.
Dyess was on a street corner with her two young grandchildren trying to catch a glimpse of Biden’s motorcade, when a campaign worker invited her to join the president at a nearby community center.
Biden listened attentively as she told him about surviving cancer and how the Affordable Care Act, which Biden helped push as Barack Obama’s vice president, saved her life.
“I told him, just keep fighting the fight,” she said,
Since then, Dyess says she has shared her “once in a lifetime moment” directly with dozens of friends and relatives, at a church revival, at her grandkids’ school and on her neighborhood walks. She’s also been urging her 20-year-old son’s friends to register to vote.
Campaign officials say the encounter is exactly what they are hoping to replicate around the country with a series of small-scale campaign events.
Biden, 81, has spent decades honing his ‘retail’ politician style of wooing voters. Big, thundering speeches have never been his style but he lights up when meeting people one-on-one, thumping shoulders, hugging strangers and FaceTiming people’s moms.
In sharp contrast to the
mass rallies
hosted by Republican rival Donald Trump — heavy on stagecraft with classic rock playlists, anti-immigration rhetoric and mostly white audiences — Biden meets with small, more diverse groups of voters for personal conversations.
Those
smaller events
are arranged with friendly invitation-only audiences, and often publicized only at the last minute to avoid pro-Palestinian protests that have dogged Biden’s appearances for months.
It’s part of a broader campaign strategy that includes celebrity endorsements, a slew of political surrogates, traditional ads and official events to showcase Biden’s support for NATO, infrastructure funding and other key policies.
The campaign is under heavy pressure as Biden wobbles in the polls.
Despite strong economic growth and stock market highs, his approval ratings are near two-year lows, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, and other polls show Trump ahead in several of the battleground states that Biden narrowly won in 2020.
Campaign and Democratic party officials say that is in part because voters are still smarting from higher prices and don’t know enough about what Biden has done to reduce costs of prescription drugs and other essentials, or his backing of unions fighting for higher wages.
They say US media is too “fractured” to be an effective way of reaching voters on these issues. So they’re enlisting friend networks, super-surrogates, small business groups, podcasts, new media and TikTok stars who they hope will talk issues and policies as they try to convince millions of Americans to back Biden in November.
Charles Franklin, who directs polling at Wisconsin’s Marquette University Law School, said that because Biden doesn’t have “groupies” like Trump, these smaller events are a better bet. “If they both got the same stadium and did back to back events, [I’m] pretty confident that Trump would have the bigger turnout for that,” Franklin said.
Republicans, who ridiculed Biden’s 2020 campaign for being run “from his basement,” say the lack of big Biden rallies in 2024 is further evidence of his physical and political fragility.
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, described Biden’s strategy as “tiny, staged, 15-minute snooze-fests,” and said “Team Trump’s campaign events will continue to get bigger and better.”
Before events like the one in Racine, the campaign combs its databases for local people who care about a specific issue Biden’s policies have addressed or are part of a demographic he hopes to reach, and invites them to meet Biden. Sometimes they find unexpected guests like Dyess.
The interactions are filmed by the campaign for YouTube video and campaign ads, and followed by local and national media. Ideally, participants make their own social media posts and those go viral, reaching more voters, the campaign says.
“One of the strategies around any visit is not just to have the perfect room and create the conditions for serendipity, but also to make sure that what happens in the room doesn’t stay in the room,” said Ben Wikler, head of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party.
In Milwaukee in March, for example, Biden met 9-year-old Harry Abramson, who had written to Biden about his stutter.
Biden, who stuttered as a child, shared his strategy for dealing with difficult words. The interaction was picked up by the local Fox affiliate and other TV stations, digital and print media, and Biden’s campaign put it on Facebook and other accounts. It went viral, bouncing around chat rooms, TikTok and Reddit.
“Grandpa’s gonna Grandpa. Imagine telling your friends you got speech lessons from the president of the United States,” one Reddit user wrote under a video of the interaction on “Made Me Smile,” a group with 9.5 million members.
Biden visited the Fitts’ family home in North Carolina in January, part of a ‘kitchen table’ visit to regular families in swing states. Afterward, teenaged Christian Fitts posted a video on TikTok showing the President admiring school photos on his refrigerator and sharing french fries at the kitchen table.
The post got over one million “likes” and thousands of comments that attracted millions more views. Many were incredulous, rather than outright endorsements of Biden. “HIM JUST STANDING AT THE FRIDGE IS SENDING ME” one user wrote. Nearly 50,000 people liked the comment.
Tracking the digital impact of this strategy is difficult, political experts say. New tools to track TikTok content are still not reliable, most Facebook posts are private, and there’s no way to know how many of those who comment will actually vote.
Teddy Goff, co-founder of marketing firm Precision Strategies, believes the smaller events are a smart play.
“They’re going to wind up in the local news, local newspaper, local TV, and in all likelihood, will get seen by more people than might have been to that Trump rally,” said Goff, digital director of former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, referring to an April rally by Trump in Green Bay that drew a crowd of 3,200.
Relying on individuals to share the Biden message can be unpredictable.
Sheree Robinson, a Black mother of five from Racine who says funding from Biden’s American Rescue Plan helped her earn her a High School Equivalency Diploma, was invited to ride in Biden’s limousine during his May Wisconsin visit.
She posted a video on Facebook showing her smiling next to a bemused-looking Biden, as he gets detailed instructions on what to expect at the next event. In her comment, she used an obscenity to tout herself as a “big ... deal,” without any praise of Biden.
Later, however, she called into a local radio program to share what she called an “awesome” experience, and plugged Biden’s policy that helped her get a degree. The Wisconsin Democratic party is featuring her in digital ads it will use around the state.
Social media tends to embrace more negative or awkward moments, like a stumble or fall, Goff noted, rather than a tiny event like the recent one in Racine.
Biden’s campaign is outspending Trump’s on digital media in Wisconsin, according to an analysis by Priorities USA. It spent $2.2 million on digital ads in the state alone since January, compared to $1,500 spent by Trump.
So far, though, a FiveThirtyEight compilation of Wisconsin polls still shows Trump with a slight lead in the state.
Biden campaign taps friend groups, social media, with unpredictable results
https://arab.news/v6wa7
Biden campaign taps friend groups, social media, with unpredictable results
- Biden listened attentively as she told him about surviving cancer and how the Affordable Care Act, which Biden helped push as Barack Obama’s vice president, saved her life
Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States
Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine’s plan to defeat Russia depended on Washington’s support, speaking as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv.
“As for the plan for victory... it depends mostly on the support of the United States. And other partners,” Zelensky said in a press conference.
His remarks come just under two months before US elections that could be challenging for Ukraine if Donald Trump is back in the White House.
Trump aides have suggested that if he wins, he would leverage aid to force Kyiv into territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November.
He has argued that a surprise incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region allows Kyiv to enter potential negotiations from a position of strength.
Ukraine held a peace summit in June in Switzerland with leaders and top officials from more than 90 countries but did not invite Russia.
Zelensky has since said Moscow should be included in the next gathering.
The Kremlin has ruled out talks since the assault in Kursk, and has demanded Ukraine cede swathes of territory for a ceasefire.
Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
- Global Witness recorded 17 killings of environmentalists in Philippines in 2023
- Colombia was the deadliest country for environmental activists, with 79 killed
MANILA: The Philippines is the deadliest country in Asia for environment defenders, the latest Global Witness report shows, with the country recording the most environmental killings in the region for over a decade.
At least 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed globally in 2023, according to UK advocacy group’s estimates released earlier this week.
The figure brings the total number of people killed for trying to protect their homes, community or the planet to 2,106 since 2012, when Global Witness started its monitoring.
Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, the Philippines was fourth.
“Colombia had record-high defender killings in 2023 with 79 deaths: the highest annual total ever recorded by Global Witness Followed by Brazil (25), Mexico (18) and Honduras (18) and the Philippines (17),” the report read.
At the same time, the Philippines was the third — preceded only by Colombia and Brazil — in the total number of such killings since the first Global Witness report, with 298 environmental and land activists killed between 2012 and 2023.
The report also highlighted “cases of enforced disappearances and abductions, pointed tactics used in both the Philippines and Mexico in particular, as well as the wider use of criminalisation as a tactic to silence activists across the world.”
Besides the Philippines, only two other Asian countries are featured in this year’s report: India, where five activists were killed, and Indonesia, where three such killings were recorded.
Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, environmentalists and head of research at BAN Toxics Philippines, told Arab News that environmentalists were oppressed in a number of ways.
“The most extreme cases include red-tagging, abduction, and even killings ... It seems that environmentalists who are most at risk are those who get in the way of big industries, big politicians. It doesn’t really differ much from what we see happening to journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,” he said.
“We need the government to really take action — environmental concerns have always been a big part of political platforms for decades, but major incidences of abuse point towards a lack of commitment to not only protect the environment, but to protect its stewards.”
He said impunity of the abusers has been aided by government inaction since the times of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was in office from 2016 to 2022.
“Ever since Duterte, the government has been really lenient with these things,” he said.
“Unless the government really commits to protecting the environment, these abuses will only worsen.”
UK summons Iranian charge d’affaires over transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia
- “UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response”: Ministry
LONDON: Britain’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, the country’s most senior diplomat in London, over the transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Today, in coordination with European partners and upon instruction from the Foreign Secretary, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday during a visit to London that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in its war in Ukraine within weeks.
On Tuesday, Britain, the US and European allies all condemned the move.
Britain sanctioned Iranian individuals and entities involved in drone and missile production, as well as Russian cargo ships it said were involved in transporting the missiles from Iran to Russia.
Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
- Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control
- “A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated”
MOSCOW: Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.
Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.
“The situation is good for us,” said Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defense ministry’s military-political department.
“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated,” he said.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions on both sides of the war. Russia’s defense ministry said it had defeated Ukrainian units at a number of villages in Kursk.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles), a figure disputed by Russian sources.
Yuri Podolyaka, an Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, and two other influential bloggers — Rybar and the Two Majors — said that Russian forces had begun a significant counter-offensive in Kursk.
“In the Kursk region, the Russian Army launched counter-offensive actions on the western flank of the enemy’s wedge, reducing the Ukrainian zone of control near the state border,” the Two Majors blog said.
Podolyaka said that Russian forces had taken several villages on the west of the sliver of Russia that Ukraine carved out, pushing Ukrainian forces to the east of the Malaya Loknya River south of Snagost.
Russian forces also advanced in eastern Ukraine, and were fighting in the center of the town of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, according to Russian war bloggers and open source maps of the war.
Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship
- A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel had been blocked, suspended the measure, the charity wrote on X
- “The ship is free to rescue lives!” it said
ROME: The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders — MSF) on Wednesday obtained the release of its migrant rescue ship, which had been grounded two weeks ago by Italy’s right-wing government.
MSF’s Geo Barents vessel was handed a 60-day detention order, the longest on record, for allegedly failing to properly coordinate with Italian and Libyan authorities as it picked up migrants off Libya on Aug. 23.
A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel had been blocked, suspended the measure, the charity wrote on X.
“The ship is free to rescue lives!” it said.
The detention order was the third against the vessel, and the longest to date. MSF International President Christos Christou traveled to Salerno to support the organization’s appeal against it.
“At this exact moment the Mediterranean is a huge emergency room and Geo Barents and the doctors are sitting in a corner with their hands tied,” Christou told Reuters, accusing the government of obstructing humanitarian sea rescues.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed legislation to curb the activities of NGOs in the Mediterranean, including by impounding of their vessels or forcing them to travel long distances to disembark migrants, increasing their fuel costs.
Christou dismissed government charges against the MSF ship, saying it had been “waiting for instructions” as it approached a migrant boat, and spontaneously picked up its passengers after they jumped into the sea.
Meloni has defended her approach, pledging at a cabinet meeting last month to launch another crackdown — this time on migrant work permits — and saying the fall in sea arrivals under her watch also resulted in fewer migrant drownings.
“The only way to prevent further tragedies at sea is to stop departures and fight unscrupulous traffickers,” she said.
The MSF chief said Meloni’s claims overlooked the fact that many deaths at sea go unreported, and argued that migrants blocked on their way to Italy would reach Europe via other routes.
In the year to date, there have been about 44,500 sea arrivals in Italy, and around 1,100 people drowned or went missing at sea. Year-on-year, arrivals are down by 62 percent, while the dead or missing have fallen by a lesser extent — about 50 percent.
As part of its deterrence strategy, Meloni’s government is also building detention camps in Albania for migrants picked up at sea. The plan, hit by delays and criticism from human rights advocates, is expected to be operational within weeks.
Christou said MSF had “serious concerns” about the initiative, calling it “another new way of externalizing the duty of the Italians and Europeans” to assist people fleeing from poverty or conflict.
