GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

President Joe Biden formally announced today that he is running for a second term.

That message came in a three-minute video that contrasts his agenda on issues like reproductive rights and the economy with his potential Republican opponents.

AMNA NAWAZ: The video comes four years to the day from when he announced his 2020 presidential run.

In today's announcement, President Biden echoed familiar themes from that campaign.

He said the country is still in a battle for the soul of the nation and that democracy is at stake in 2024.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Freedom, personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans.

There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred.

That's been the work of my first term, to fight for our democracy.

But, you know, around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you paid for your entire life, while cutting taxes from the very wealthy, dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books.

AMNA NAWAZ: At 80 years old, Mr. Biden is already the oldest president in history and enters the race underwater with many voters.

Our "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll out today shows his approval rating at 41 percent, with 50 percent disapproval.

To dive into what comes next for the president and his campaign, our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joins us now from the White House.

Laura, good to see you.

So, President Biden, it's fair to say, has a record to run on from the early years of his presidency.

But the message today was much more focused on what's at stake, not what he's done so far.

Is that going to be a core campaign message moving forward?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The campaign message, Amna, to is going to be two-pronged.

The sources close to the White House that I talked to today said that they wanted this announcement video to be forward-looking, to be presenting a choice, rather than a referendum on the president.

And a key element of this, of course, we know, is about the threats to democracy.

In 2020, when Biden launched his campaign, he used images from the neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, this time around using imagery from the January 6 insurrection, and arguing that, rather than moving more towards the center, Republicans, along with leading candidate former President Donald Trump, are moving more towards extremes, particularly on LGBTQ, transgender issues, on abortion, on guns, but also on embracing political violence.

But, Amna, that doesn't mean that the president is not going to run on his record.

The people that I talked to today said that he is very much going to be talking about that big infrastructure law, prescription drug reform, as well as climate change.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, as you know, there's been a lot of speculation about when he would announce.

He is now officially in the race.

So what can we expect in the way of a campaign schedule, where he will be holding events and when?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the short term, Amna, not much is going to change.

So the president will be going out across the country in his presidential capacity, like we saw today, when he spoke to the building trades unions in Washington, D.C. JOE BIDEN: Our economic plan is working.

We now have to finish the job.

But there's more to do.

And you're leading the way, shovels in the ground, cranes in the air, factories opening, all those jobs being recreated.

Folks, we have created more than 12 million new jobs, more jobs in two years than any president has created and in a four-year term, because of you!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, you heard there, Amna, that the president was making the economic case for his reelection.

But, in addition to that, we aren't going to be seeing much other than stops like that in his presidential capacity, as well as some fund-raising events.

But the big campaign events, the big campaign rallies, he and Vice President Kamala Harris are not going to be holding until 2024.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned Vice President Harris.

We should also note she was featured pretty prominently in that announcement video today.

What do we know about the role she's going to be playing in that campaign?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: She's going to be, of course, featured very prominently, particularly on the issue of abortion rights.

We have seen that Harris has taken a leading role here for the White House on abortion rights, as well as gun safety.

And those are two big issues that the campaign really believes are going to be key to young voters.

That's a really important voting bloc here for the president, Amna, because I have talked to a number of Democrats, including pollsters, who say that without young voters turning out in the same numbers is 2020, President Biden can't win reelection.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that is our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, reporting for us tonight.

Laura, thank you.

Good to see you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: For more on President Biden's reelection effort, we're joined by two Democratic Party strategists, Jim Messina, who ran Barack Obama's winning reelection campaign in 2012 and is the CEO of The Messina Group.

And Celinda Lake is with us.

She's the president of Lake Research Partners and a pollster who worked with Joe Biden's campaign in 2020.

It's great to have the both of you with us.

And, Celinda, President Biden's announcement video suggests that he will run less on his record in office and more against what he perceives as Republican MAGA extremism.

Is that enough to counter voters' concerns about his age?

There's this NBC News poll that asks the question, should Joe Biden run for office?

Seventy percent of all the respondents said no.

That number among Democrats stands at 51 percent.

CELINDA LAKE, Democratic Pollster: Well, let me say, first of all, I think that's the fool -- most foolish polling question out there, because a lot of people that say no want to protect him from what they think is a very hard road ahead.

But if age is the worst thing they have to say about Joe Biden against Donald Trump, who is basically the same age, we're in great shape.

I think that what he did in the video today is lay out a very powerful contrast.

And it was very related to his theme about the soul of the nation.

But the idea that the MAGA Republicans are taking away our freedoms is a very powerful contrast.

And I think, in the campaign - - every day, he runs on his record as president, but in the campaign, setting up this contrast, as Joe Biden himself says, make it a referendum, talk about the alternative, let's not talk about the almighty, is a very important goal.

And that's how we won in 2022.

That's how we're going to win in 2024.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Jim, what about that?

Because President Biden defined much of his campaign in 2020 and the lead-up to this reelection bid, he defined it by who he is not, Donald Trump.

Is that sufficient when you're asking voters for a second term in office?

JIM MESSINA, Former Obama White House Deputy Chief of Staff: Well, look, to win, the most important thing is you have a contrast.

You can't run someone against no one.

And Celinda has it right.

Don't compare him to the almighty.

Democrats want to pretend we're going to have another Barack Obama just walk out of the woodwork.

And the truth is, Joe Biden is going to be our nominee.

He should be our nominee.

He's been a very successful president.

And we got to stay focused on Donald Trump.

And it looks like the Republicans are going to be crazy enough to nominate Donald Trump.

So that's a piece of it.

We need a clear contrast.

But, to your question, the second piece is, we have to have a forward-looking message about the future.

And that's why I agree with Celinda.

I love the video today, because we talked about freedom.

We talked about words that the Republicans have tried to have as their own.

And Joe Biden's now on the offense on things like freedom, on women's rights, on other things that put Republicans squarely on the defense and set us up for the contrast that we have to have.

AMNA NAWAZ: Celinda, can I ask you more broadly about the Democratic Party and what this says right now?

Because we have to remember, back in 2020, then-candidate Biden sold himself as a bridge to the next generation of leadership.

And you know there are a lot of other senior Democrats out there who do have presidential aspirations, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom.

What does this say about the bench?

Does it say the party doesn't believe that anyone else could win in '24?

CELINDA LAKE: Oh, no, I think there are lots of people who could win in '24.

But we have a really good president who already beat Donald Trump.

Why would we abandon that?

And he is a bridge president.

But why would he jump off the bridge in the middle of the road?

He's going to finish the job.

He's going to get to the other end of the bridge.

And then we're going to have a ton of great Democrats.

And we have them already in the Cabinet, in governorships, in the vice presidential office.

We have a very strong bench.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jim, if I can follow up on that with you, I want to get your take, because I do wonder if you think this undercuts some of those other up-and-coming leaders, the bench in waiting, as it were.

The reelection launch says that there's a battle for the soul of the nation.

Any extremism expert will tell you this is not a battle won in the next four years or five years or 10 or 15 years.

Does this say there's really no other Dem to lead in this battle right now?

JIM MESSINA: No, it just says Democrats want to win.

And, with the exception 1988, when -- in the last 40 years, when a president hasn't run for reelection because of whatever reason, term limits, et cetera, the other party has won.

Democrats look at this and say, Joe Biden has already beaten Donald Trump, he can beat him again.

He's been a very successful president.

Let's keep on keeping on.

And let's develop that bench.

In the Cabinet is a great place to be in the bench.

As a governor is a great place.

No one's going to go anywhere.

And, in four years, everyone and their dog can run.

Celinda and I can run.

And we will just have at it.

But, right now, the party is going to be unified behind Joe Biden.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jim, I want to draw on your experience working on the Obama reelection effort back in 2012, because there are Biden advisers who say that this effort for President Biden will mirror what Barack Obama did in 2020 -- in 2012, and that there might not be any rallies until the new year, at least not until Republicans have settled on a presumptive nominee, and that the White House intends to use official events to get out the president's message.

How can President Biden best leverage the office of the presidency and the bully pulpit that comes with it, as you see it?

JIM MESSINA: By doing exactly what he's doing, by doing his day job every day to the best of his abilities.

I think the White House has been really smart.

They're on a 31-city tour right now in their manufacturing tour, going to all these places, talking about the things Joe Biden's done to build manufacturing, to catch up to China on some of the silicon issues, et cetera.

That's what he should do.

He should do his day job, let the Republicans have their crazy primary and, next year, go straight at it.

But right now, just be the president of the United States and stay laser-focused on your job.

GEOFF BENNETT: Where's President Biden most vulnerable, do you think, Celinda?

CELINDA LAKE: I think he's most vulnerable, as is the party, on the economy.

And I think the direction of the economy is the single most important thing we need to focus on.

And that's why the economic tour is great.

And that's why he's going to be working on the economy every day.

And his point is, we have done -- he's been a record great president, but it's not good enough.

It's not good enough until everybody has the freedom to thrive in their families, as well as to make their own personal decisions.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lots more to talk about.

We thank both of you for joining us.

CELINDA LAKE: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Come back soon.

We will talk again.

That's Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, and Jim Messina, CEO of The Messina Group.