Biden wages likability war on Sanders

The morning after whipping Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden woke up Wednesday to his primary opponent’s first paid negative TV ads attacking him over Social Security and trade.

Biden’s campaign response: 2016.

Framing Sanders as a divisive party outsider who won’t accept defeat, the Biden campaign pointed to his bitter Democratic primary fight four years ago with his party nemesis, Hillary Clinton. That ended with a chaotic nominating convention and Donald Trump’s election months later.

Biden’s strategy capitalizes on Clinton's successful effort to brand Sanders as more unlikable than Biden among...