As he maintains his lead atop the Democratic primary, Joe Biden has leaned on a fairly simple strategy: sometimes less is more.

The former vice president’s presidential campaign has, since its onset, done its own thing.

As Biden’s rivals crafted their launch strategies, the former vice president still hadn’t publicly made up his mind about running. When the most press-averse contenders put themselves in front of reporters, Biden stayed largely under the fray. And as staffers fielded all sorts of candidate survey requests, the current Democratic frontrunner’s replies were often absent.