Article snippet: LOS ANGELES — The mayor of Los Angeles was attempting to praise Joe Biden to the press, but Biden’s aides were more focused on shooing the press away. At the end of a made-for-cameras lunch he shared with Biden at a taco stand last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti had to raise his voice over a phalanx of Biden staff members, who were attempting to end the question-and-answer session between the former vice president and about 40 reporters and photographers swarming their table. “I want to say one last thing,” the mayor twice said over the din, before offering his homage: “Los Angeles loves Joe Biden and Joe Biden loves Los Angeles.” The tape recorders and cameras were soon shut off, and Biden exited King Taco without having veered off message. As the famously voluble Biden makes his first retail campaign stops in the Democratic primary, and grows accustomed to the front-runner status he never enjoyed in his two previous White House bids, his campaign is grappling with how to showcase Biden’s never-met-a-stranger persona without exposing him to an environment where he may commit a gaffe. So far, they have struck a safe, if precarious, balance. Just over two weeks into Biden’s candidacy, the most notable feature of his campaign may be what hasn’t happened: He has not blurted anything out that delights his rivals, horrifies his aides and reinforces his image as “Uncle Joe,” America’s there-he-goes-again relative who makes you smile and wince in equal measure. It is early y... Link to the full article to read more