Dem Notes

* Latino Magazine has given Joe Biden a zero-sum presidential endorsement: “The alternative to President Biden is unthinkable.” So much for Kanye West. But, seriously, it’s also a reminder that the Hispanic community has been hit especially hard by coronavirus–as well as by the Trump Administration’s less-than-adroit handling of the pandemic. Latinos make up more than a third of COVID cases nationwide, although only 18 percent of the population. Sheltering in place  hasn’t been possible for a number of Latino families with members who work in industries that never shut down–from farms and food-processing plants to hospital orderlies and food preparers. And Latinos are expected to be the largest non-white voting block–and a likely difference-maker in states such as Florida, North Carolina and Arizona.

With that in mind, the Biden campaign is doubling down on Spanish language ads that starkly contrast Biden and Trump–as in “Los cuentos no pagan las cuentas” (“Telling stories won’t pay the bills”). The micro-targeting includes different narrator accents for different battleground-state markets. To wit: Cuban in Miami, Puerto Rican in Orlando and Mexican in Phoenix.

BTW, America, as we know, has been evolving–if not morphing–demographically. In 1970, Latinos made up 4.7 percent of the U.S. population. In 2030, it’s estimated that nearly one in four Americans will be Hispanic.

* “Black people vote when they’re proud or angry. They were proud in 2008 and angry in 2012.” That was the Rev. Al Sharpton in 2012. His rationale still applies–actually more so–in 2020.

* Biden and the DNC raised $141 million in June, topping the campaign haul of Trump for the second straight month. Trump and the RNC raised $131 million.

* “We won’t lose because of money–I’m absolutely sure. Four months ago, I was worried.”–Ed Rendell, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, who recently co-hosted a Biden fundraiser.

* One big reason for the fundraising surge is that Biden is running against Trump–not just a cluster of competing, fellow Democrats spanning the left-of-center spectrum.

* The Biden campaign still trails badly on social media platforms. Biden averages about a half dozen daily posts to about 2 million Facebook followers. Trump doubles the number of posts to about 28 million followers. On Twitter, Trump has more than 80 million followers; Biden has 6.4 million.

* “It shouldn’t be surprising that with a candidate in a self-destructive spiral of failure and the other operating without controversy and a huge reservoir of good will, the race does not even appear competitive at this point.”–Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.

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