In 2020, Joe Biden ran a stealth campaign in which he avoided engagement with voters and the media, enabled by pandemic restrictions and a sympathetic press. Four years later, Biden successfully used a similar strategy to avoid scrutiny during primaries that the DNC made sure would not be competitive — until Biden decided to take on Donald Trump in a debate. In a heartbeat, Democrats pushed Biden out of the race and anointed a stealth candidate in his place.
Now Democrats have returned to the stealth model, and not just for the top of the ticket. While many of us have focused on the Silence of the Kams while the media focuses on Republican pouncing, Tim Walz has also been AWOL from media scrutiny. It’s been a week since Kamala Harris picked Minnesota’s governor as her running mate, and both of them have run to ground since, Howard Kurtz noted briefly yesterday:
