With President Joe Biden officially in the race, neither Biden nor GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump are wasting any time getting up on the airwaves.
NBC News’ Mike Memoli reports that Biden and the Democratic National Committee are up with their first TV ad, a 90-second spot that doubles down on Biden’s opening message that freedoms are under attack.
The campaign said the ad is part of a seven-figure campaign that will run on national cable channels and in six battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. So far Biden and the DNC have reserved $256,000 on the airwaves through May 2, per AdImpact.
And Trump’s campaign booked its first TV ad spending on CNN, MSNBC and Newsmax, spending about $77,000 so far from Wednesday through Friday, per AdImpact. The minute-long spot goes after Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who isn’t even in the race yet, focusing on Trump endorsing DeSantis when he ran for governor in 2018.
“DeSantis was saved by the endorsement of President Trump,” a narrator says in the ad, later adding: “Unfortunately, instead of being grateful, DeSantis is now attacking the very man who saved his career. Isn’t it time DeSantis remembers how he got to where he is?”
The ad closes with the narrator saying, “The truth is there’s only one person who can make America great again.”
In other campaign news…
A labor of love: Biden spoke to the North American Building Trades Union shortly after announcing his bid on Tuesday, touting an economic message that he didn’t emphasize in his announcement video.
Shoring up the left: Ahead of Biden’s re-election launch, top Biden advisers have been reaching out to progressive leaders to shore up their support, NBC News’ Sahil Kapur, Ryan Nobles and Mike Memoli report. On Tuesday, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden in an interview with the Associated Press where he said he would “do everything I can to see the president is reelected.”
The rematch no one wants: NBC News’ Jonathan Allen emphasizes a key finding from the latest NBC News poll — just about the only thing a clear majority of Americans agrees on these days is that they don’t want Biden or Trump to run again in 2024.
Trump’s target: Trump’s campaign promises to overhaul the civil service is causing some “anxiety” among government workers, NBC News’ Allan Smith reports.
On the web: Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, is launching a “six-figure” digital ad campaign on Wednesday, Politico reports. The group is also aiming to spend $75 million in the 2024 election cycle.
Clean up on Aisle 1600: After dodging a question about whether Biden would serve out his full second term if elected, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted, “I can confirm that if re-elected, @POTUS would serve all 8 years,” blaming the hesitation on concerns about talking politics from the Briefing Room.
Debatable: Trump mused about skipping the GOP presidential debates in a Tuesday post on his social media platform where he laments that the Republican Party didn’t seek his “approval” before agreeing to hold debates, and questioned why he would “subject yourself to being libeled and abused” if he’s the clear frontrunner.
No longer resigned to resigning? A Florida lawmaker has filed a new amendment that would ease the state’s “resign-to-run” law to allow DeSantis to run for president and not resign from office first.
Making it official: Former Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is formally announcing his presidential bid Wednesday morning in Bentonville, Ark.
When the PACs come marching in: The Club for Growth PAC is endorsing Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry’s bid for governor in Louisiana.
