Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been a disaster instead of the expected coronation. Democratic donors have an alternative solution to the problems seen in the Clinton campaign–pushing harder for Joe Biden to run:
Nearly 50 Democratic donors and party activists have signed a letter urging Vice President Biden to jump into the 2016 presidential race to compete against former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, calling him a leader “who understands the real challenges facing American families.”
The letter — whose signatories include some top bundlers for President Obama’s campaigns — underscores a nervousness among some in the party about Clinton’s standing and a building hope that Biden will decide to run.
Some, such as party fundraiser Lou Frillman, had already signed up to help Clinton’s campaign.
“We believe that the vice president is the best candidate,” Frillman said in an interview. “We have a lot of confidence in him….If he runs, we’re ready to support him.”
In a related report:
A wide swath of party financiers is convinced that Biden will make a late entry into the race, and a sizable number are contemplating backing him, including some who have signed on with Clinton, according to more than a dozen top Democratic fundraisers nationwide.
Their potential support — driven in part by a desire to recapture the passion they felt in Obama’s campaigns — could play a key role in helping the vice president decide whether to make a third White House bid. The chatter among a cadre of well-connected party fundraisers suggests that he could benefit from an early jolt of money should he run…
Many of the president’s fundraisers are still up for grabs. Of the 770 people who collected checks for Obama’s 2012 reelection bid, just 52 have signed on as a “Hillblazer” bundler for Clinton or have held a fundraiser for her, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Top Democratic money players — many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations — said discussions among senior Obama fundraisers about Biden’s possible bid have taken a serious turn in the past few days.
The Wall Street Journal reports Joe Biden Edges Closer to Joining Presidential Race:
While the Biden team is still debating the best time to jump in, the vice president met Monday with his political advisers and talked about the merits of an early entry that would assure him a place in the Democratic debate scheduled for Oct. 13. They also are honing his campaign message and moving ahead with plans to raise money and hire staff, the people said…
The vice president’s team of advisers are still honing what would be his campaign message: That after inheriting a brutal economic recession, President Barack Obama has had a successful run, and Mr. Biden would keep the U.S. on the same trajectory.
The Democratic debate next month is one of two important events in October that are on the minds of Mr. Biden’s top advisers as they consider a campaign start date.
Democratic National Committee leaders have scheduled only four debates before the Iowa caucuses set for Feb. 1. Delaying a presidential announcement would mean passing on a chance to appear before a national TV audience and make the case that he would be a better nominee than Mrs. Clinton. Yet as a sitting vice president, Mr. Biden already has a platform that keeps him in the public eye…
Stretching out the announcement has other pitfalls. Mid-November brings the first in a series of deadlines to get on the ballot for the first caucuses and primaries in 2016. Meeting those filing deadlines requires money and, in some cases, petition signatures, so preparations would need to begin weeks in advance.
It appears that Biden remains very interested in running for president, but possibly hesitant about running against Clinton should she resume a dominant role in the race. There has also been speculation, such as at Politico, that instead of announcing soon, Biden might wait to see if Clinton collapses:
It turns out that instead of simply deciding yes or no on a presidential run, Biden may have a third option — make no announcement at all, wait until December (or longer) and hope Clinton gets out of the race or is pushed to the sidelines without him having to get in…
“They’re testing it,” said one person who’s spoken with the people laying the plans. “They’re feeling it out.”
Drawing the decision out to November has risks, they know: It’s a gamble between whether she’ll implode (perhaps under indictment over her personal email server), whether he could wait so long that she’d rebound (perhaps fueled by strong performances at the debate or in congressional testimony on Oct. 22).
And November isn’t really a deadline, either. Close observers say they’re not convinced Clinton could survive losing Iowa and New Hampshire in February, given the fall from front-runner grace either would entail…
“He’s trying to keep the door open as long as he can,” said one former staffer who’s been in touch with his aides. “If you do nothing, then the door just closes on its own.”
…Taking his time might mean missing deadlines. There are petition and paperwork requirements that will quickly pile up as the end of the year nears. But in the topsy-turvy circumstances that would have to click into place for Biden to have any kind of realistic shot at the nomination anyway, he might have to make the campaign happen without being on the ballot in every state.
Few are convinced that would matter much.
“If he decides to go after all this, it’s not going to matter if he’s missed two filing deadlines,” said Democratic consultant Joe Trippi…
If Biden’s serious about actually running for president, Trippi said, he’s got to move quickly to assess whether he has the support on the ground in the early states, and among key constituency groups, from labor to African-Americans.
But if he’s hoping to just be handed the keys to the Oval Office, he’s got lots of time.
“If you’re waiting for her to implode, just wait. You could wait until June,” Trippi said. “If she implodes next May, the party’s going to turn to Joe Biden.’’
If Biden wants one last shot at the presidency, I think he is best off getting in the race soon, ideally in time for the first debate. However, if Biden does not enter the race, it is a safe bet that he will never close the door to accepting the nomination should Clinton somehow be forced out of the race.
Update: Some reports recently have suggested that Jill Biden was reluctant for Joe to run. Today NBC is reporting that sources are saying Jill Biden is 100 percent on-board with Joe running.
Question is who's drivin'?
It ain't Biden (yet anyway, and so far he doesn't sound like he wants to run).
And if he drives his campaign the way he has driven the vice presidency he'd better have dual airbags…
He sure is acting like he wants to run.
He was of value as VP. He often opposed Hillary Clinton when she wanted increased military intervention. It was Biden who pushed Obama to support same-sex marriage while Clinton was opposed.
Biden is too old. His first Presidential campaign went down in flames due to plagiarism, and his second went down in flames due to the fact that he's gaffe-prone. He says and does offensive and obnoxious things. He helped but Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court by mistreated the women Thomas harassed when they testified. Biden led the charge for mass incarceration, damaging black families. He has always been weak on regulating Wall Street.
The media's relentless bias against Hillary only makes her more relatable to marginalized groups like Latinos, working class whites, women, blacks, and gays. Those groups also know what it's like to be lied about, unfairly criticized, stereotyped, mischaracterized. They are also called uppity and held to double standards when they reach for the power and privilege enjoyed by the good ole boys. Blacks can relate to a strong, resilient woman who refuses to be knocked down — we see it often in our own families.
Her election will be truly transformative and revolutionary — that's why the sexist good ole boy establishment is in the mainstream media is desperate to smear her with email nonsense. It isn't working. Hillary has a double-digit lead nationally and huge 35+ points leads in the big, ethnically diverse Southern and Western states like Florida, California, South Carolina, and Georgia that will decide the primary. Hillary is more liked than the press and Rethuglicans combined. She'll run better with whites, women, and Latinos than Obama and will not lose a single state he won.
Biden is in a far stronger position after two terms as vice president than he was in his two previous runs.
While not my first choice, Biden is far preferable on the issues than Clinton. BIden was wrong on mass incarceration, but these were also Clinton’s policies. Biden opposed many of Clinton’s foolish calls for increased military intervention. Biden pushed Obama to support same-sex marriage while Clinton was still opposed. In the Senate, Biden sure didn’t joint up with the religious right to impose religious views through legislation, propose making flag burning a felony, or push to censor video games as Clinton did. Biden’s candor would be a welcome change from the dishonesty of Clinton. The corruption under her at State should by itself be enough to disqualify her from ever becoming president.
Clinton has a big lead in many states now, but she also had one eight years ago, and her lead is rapidly evaporating. If she loses in New Hampshire and Iowa, it will have consequences in subsequent races–especially as more Democrats realized how risky it is to run Clinton in a general election campaign.