DEMS/ECONOMY/ELECTION/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In his first official event as a 2020 presidential candidate, Joe Biden skipped past the primary on Monday [4-29-19] and went right to the general election. From the atmospherics of his first campaign rally to the substance of his speech, the former vice president delivered a carefully calibrated message: While his rivals are chasing the Democratic nomination, Biden plans to pursue a mission focused on Donald Trump…Biden offered an economic message tailored for western Pennsylvania, where he praised organized labor and denigrated Wall Street CEOs and companies that used the Trump tax cuts to buy back stocks while laying off workers. He singled out the president by name, and at other times made implicit references that left no question about whom he was talking about…While other Democratic contenders criticize the president in varying degrees, few have focused their attention so squarely on him. Biden announced his candidacy last week via an unorthodox video announcement aimed directly at Trump’s response to violent demonstrations in Charlottesville in 2017. And Biden’s decision to base his campaign in Philadelphia — and kick it off with a rally at the other end of the state in Pittsburgh — underscore his connection to Pennsylvania, a key industrial swing state Trump unexpectedly captured in 2016.”
–Marc Caputo, “Biden tears into Trump at Pittsburgh campaign kickoff,” Politico, April 29, 2019 7:14 pm