Joe Biden (D) took a direct shot at his closest Democrat primary challenger, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), on Wednesday, arguing that the country is “not electing a planner.”
While the top-tier candidates in the Democrat primary field have largely refrained from taking deep digs at one another, Biden signaled that he may switch strategies.
“We’re not electing a planner,” Biden said in New Hampshire on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to Warren. “I’ve been there. I know what it takes to get it done.”
Warren has made “I have a plan for that” a catchphrase of her campaign, claiming to have solutions for virtually every major problem the country faces and outlining those broad plans in a series of Medium posts over the course of her campaign. Most of Warren’s plans contain a common thread, incorporating aspects from additional proposals within her political arsenal.
Warren has unveiled a $3 trillion climate change proposal inspired by former presidential candidate and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), a plan focused entirely on “honoring and empowering tribal nations and Indigenous peoples,” and a proposal to “end corruption in Washington.”
In August, Warren released her comprehensive criminal justice reform plan, which emphasized protections for “special populations” — such as LGBT individuals — and called for the elimination of private prisons.
In September, Warren added to her ultra-progressive agenda, promising to raise Social Security benefits by $200 per month. She said she would pay for it by taxing the “wealthy” — specifically, by increasing the Social Security contribution requirement to 14.8 percent for individuals making $250,000 per year, and splitting the 14.8 percent “equally between employees and employers at 7.4 percent each.”
Most recently, Warren released a plan to address “environmental injustice” and “environmental racism” across the country.
Biden’s jab comes after weeks of a slow, steady surge in Warren’s favor, besting Biden in a variety of recent polls and overtaking him in the RealClearPolitics average for the first time this week.
A poll from The Economist/YouGov showed Warren topping the field with 29 percent to Biden’s 25 percent — a lead which remains outside of the +/- 2.9 percent margin of error:
#National @YouGovUS/@TheEconomist Poll (RV, 10/6-8):
Warren 29%
Biden 25%
Sanders 14%
Harris 5%
Buttigieg 5%
Yang 3%
Bullock 2%
Klobuchar 1%
O'Rourke 1%
Gabbard 1%
Castro 1%
Booker 1%
Delaney 1%
Steyer 1%
Ryan 0%
Williamson 0%
Bennet 0%
Messam 0%
Sestak 0https://t.co/5MbdsaCOiJ— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) October 10, 2019
The two candidates will face off next week alongside ten other contenders at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.