Harris stiff-arms Biden

President Biden wants to campaign for Vice President Harris in the campaign's final nine days.

• Harris' campaign keeps responding: We'll get back to you, three people familiar with the dynamic tell Axios' Alex Thompson.

Why it matters: Harris' team believes Biden is a political liability, but is reluctant to directly say they don't want him to campaign for her.

• There are no scheduled joint Biden-Harris events before Election Day, a week from Tuesday.

🖼️ The big picture: It's the latest example of Democrats, and even some of Biden's staff, tiptoeing around the 81-year-old president's ego and feelings.

• One person familiar with the situation compared it to a slow-moving break-up: Harris' team and allies respect Biden's service but are wary of further tying Harris to the unpopular president on the campaign trail.

Biden's approval rating is 39%, according to FiveThirtyEight's average.

• "He's a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward," said another person familiar with the situation, in a nod to Harris' campaign slogan.

🔎 The intrigue: Many on Biden's team — including some still working on the campaign Harris inherited from the president — believe Biden could help her in the final days.

• They also believe Harris' team is underestimating Biden's appeal among white, working-class communities in the Rust Belt — including in the critical state of Pennsylvania, where Biden has spent extensive time during his life and career.

Biden's team — responding to the president's wishes — recently has become more assertive.

• Biden's announcement this past week that he would campaign in Pittsburgh yesterday caught many on Harris' team off-guard, two people familiar with the matter told Axios.

Some Harris aides were frustrated when Biden told supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday in reference to Trump: "We gotta lock him up."

• Biden quickly clarified he meant to lock up Trump "politically." But Trump and other Republicans jumped on the president's remark to claim Biden's administration had prosecuted Trump unfairly.

🔮 What's next: Biden's team has been in talks about him making campaign stops for Democratic Senate candidates in Maryland and Delaware, the president's home state.

• That could scratch his itch to get on the campaign trail — and satisfy the Harris team's goal of having Biden keep a relatively low profile.
• The White House views those trips as in addition to any campaigning he does for the Harris-Walz ticket, rather than instead of it.

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