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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -- Pretty much every elected Democrat in Pennsylvania was out in force on Sunday standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Joe Biden at different venues as he made his way from Philadelphia to the state capital, starting what his supporters here called his comeback moment.
Speaking to campaign volunteers and supporters at a Biden-Harris campaign office in Philadelphia, one woman told Biden, "We need Dark Brandon back."
Biden's off-the-cuff answer to her, "Dark Brandon is coming back," delighted the volunteers at the campaign office, who have spent the last 11 days trying to deal with calls from opinion pages and prominent Democrats for him to halt his run for reelection.
Biden began the morning at Philadelphia's airport, where he was greeted by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and two members of Pennsylvania's Democratic congressional delegation, Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.). Former congressmen Patrick Murphy and Bob Brady and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker were also there.
Biden then attended a service at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ, a Black church in Philadelphia, where Bishop J. Louis Felton gave a fiery defense of the president during his sermon.
Felton's speech was reminiscent of an equally fiery effort that Biden received four years ago from another prominent Black Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). Clyburn's support for Biden is widely credited with resurrecting Biden's 2020 campaign. Before South Carolina, Biden had lost four primary contests in a row.
The symbolism of the moment was hard to miss. Biden was clearly embarking on a comeback tour and chose Pennsylvania — where he was born, where he has campaigned the most (eight visits since January), and where he enjoys the support of every statewide-elected Democrat here.
It is also the state where he is trailing former President Donald Trump by 7 percentage points in the latest Morning Consult poll.
Murphy, who served in Congress representing Bucks County from 2007 to 2011 and met Biden at the tarmac on Sunday morning, said Biden was in fighting spirits ahead of the daylong trip across half of Pennsylvania. The first Iraq War veteran in Congress said there is a big difference between what the political class in Washington is saying about Biden and what voters are saying in states like this one.
"Coastal elites always downplay 'not flashy' Pennsylvania," he said, adding, "They continue to underestimate our resolve and one (of) our own in Joe Biden."
Murphy, the 32nd undersecretary of the Army, said Biden is not a great orator like Presidents John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan, "but he is a workhorse, not a show horse, delivering bipartisan results for our families."