ELECTION/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Joseph R. Biden Jr. used his first address as a presidential candidate Monday [4-30-19] to sketch out his economic plans, vowing to rebuild the country’s middle class in a state that helped hand President Trump the White House three years ago. Appearing in a Teamsters hall, Mr. Biden scorned corporate greed, pledged to revive unions and said the minimum wage should be lifted to $15 an hour nationwide. He also centered his message squarely in the state of his birth, telling a few hundred supporters who greeted him with ‘We Want Joe’ chants that Pennsylvania is key to Democrats’ chances of reclaiming the White House…Mr. Biden, who is making his third bid for the presidency, offered few specifics about his economic plans and reprised many of the broad themes that have long been staples of his stump speech. He did, however, use the beginning and conclusion of his remarks to pointedly criticize Mr. Trump. He invoked the deadly attack at a synagogue here last fall and another in California over the weekend to argue that ‘we are in a battle for America’s soul.’”
–Jonathan Martin, “Biden, Now the Front-Runner, Gives First Speech as 2020 Candidate,” The New York Times online, April 29, 2019