Breaking silence, Joe Biden team leans in on potential 2016 run
Joe Biden is sending out an unmistakable “forget-me-not” plea for 2016, brushing past signs of a Hillary Rodham Clinton resurgence with fresh and direct suggestions he could be on the verge of entering the presidential race. The vice president’s political team broke its months-long silence on the subject with a letter circulated by one of Biden’s closest friends and top advisers. In the letter, though Biden is still officially undecided, former Sen. Ted Kaufman describes a “campaign from the heart” that Biden would wage and says a decision isn’t far off. “If he decides to run, we will need each and every one of you — yesterday,” Kaufman says temptingly, alluding to the breakneck speed at which Biden would have to ramp up a campaign. To its recipients — Biden’s former Senate, White House and campaign staffers — Thursday’s letter smacked of an unambiguous indication Biden was all but green-lighting a presidential campaign. Several individuals familiar with the letter say it was circulated with Biden’s blessing. The individuals weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. For his part, Biden has been silent on the issue for weeks while allowing his own self-imposed deadlines to fly by. His indecision has led many Democratic leaders to publicly write off his prospects, particularly as Clinton revels in a strong debate performance and an impressive stretch of fundraising, solidifying her status as the Democratic front-runner. Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders both announced this week they’d raised more than $25 million in their last three-month stretch, a potent reminder that many of the Democratic establishment’s donors and top players have already committed to a declared candidate. To some Democrats, Biden runs the risk of being perceived as a spoiler at this point, drawing votes away from Clinton without any substantial prospect for electoral success. In public comments, the GOP is all but laying out a welcome mat. Even Biden friends and aides remain at a loss to explain exactly what is holding up his decision. In more than a dozen interviews over the past week, individuals close to the vice president described a man still wrestling with whether he and his family would be well served by campaign pressures while they continue grieving the death of Biden’s son in May. Yet more than two months after Biden began seriously weighing that question, those individuals said it was unclear what could change that would push him from undecided to yes or no. Still, Biden and his team are approaching their just-in-case preparations for a potential campaign with a new level of seriousness. This week he has been placing calls to top Democratic strategists in early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to solicit candid assessments of his chances, according to individuals familiar with the calls. Biden’s team has also had detailed conversations with campaign data and analytics experts to determine how quickly he could ramp up the digital side of his campaign, the individuals said. For Biden’s supporters, including those backing the Draft Biden super PAC, those signals serve as the reassurance they were seeking that their enthusiasm hasn’t been misplaced. “The steps that we’re seeing toward a potential candidacy are definitely creating some excitement and anticipation and hope in people that this might be happening,” said Mike Cuzzi, a former Obama campaign official in New Hampshire who is supporting the pro-Biden super PAC. He added that Biden’s supporters were “eager for him to make a determination.” Clinton’s supporters feel the same, but for different reasons. After her widely lauded performance in Tuesday’s debate, her campaign chairman told reporters it was time for Biden to make up his mind. Clinton herself said in an interview with The Boston Globe that she had discussed the campaign with Biden a few months ago. “I said: ‘You know, Joe, this is totally up to you and your family. We were friends before, we will be friends after, whatever you decide,’” she told the newspaper. Republicans, meanwhile, have been pining for a Biden campaign, in hopes that a more combative Democratic primary would weaken Clinton. “Right now there’s no question Joe Biden would be the toughest candidate for Republicans to beat in the general election,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Allison Moore. The lack of certainty has also put President Barack Obama in a delicate position, caught between loyalties to his vice president and his former secretary of state. “I’m not going to comment on what Joe’s doing or not doing,” Obama said Friday, describing Biden as his “very able vice president.” Most recent polls show a hypothetical Biden candidacy running third, behind both Clinton and Sanders, with support in the high teens. Biden appears to primarily draw voters who would otherwise lean toward supporting Clinton. Surveys have shown a recent uptick in positive opinions of Biden nationally, with 85 percent of Democrats viewing him positively in a Gallup Poll this month. In the letter, Kaufman offered the first clues to Biden’s rationale for a run, describing an “optimistic” campaign that would focus on expanding middle-class opportunity and protecting Obama’s legacy. He also drew an implicit contrast with Clinton, who has been criticized by some as appearing calculated or overly choreographed. “I think it’s fair to say, knowing him as we all do, that it won’t be a scripted affair,” Kaufman said. “After all, it’s Joe.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Pro-Joe Biden super PAC pulls TV ad about VP’s family tragedy
The super PAC urging Vice President Joe Biden to run for president pulled its first television ad off the air on Friday after Biden signaled he preferred that it not run. One day after releasing the ad recalling Biden’s family tragedies and vowing to spend six figures to air it on national television, Draft Biden abruptly reversed course. Josh Alcorn, a senior adviser to the super PAC and a Biden family friend, said nobody respects Biden and his family more than Draft Biden. “Obviously we will honor his wishes,” Alcorn said in a statement. The super PAC’s inaugural ad featured audio from a speech Biden gave at Yale University in May, just a few weeks before his eldest son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer. In the ad, Biden recalls the car crash that killed his wife and daughter just after he was first elected senator in 1972, and says he found redemption by focusing on his sons. The ad ends with white lettering that reads: “Joe, run.” The ad drew criticism from Democrats and some Biden supporters for appearing to exploit his personal losses for political gain. Draft Biden announced plans to pull the ad almost immediately after word emerged in a Los Angeles Times report that Biden had seen the ad and hoped it wouldn’t run. Two people close to Biden confirmed to The Associated Press that Biden and his staff felt the ad was inappropriate and in poor taste. In public comments since his son’s death, Biden has emphasized that his losses are no worse than those experienced by many Americans, and that he deserves no special sympathy. Although Draft Biden is an independent group and legally barred from coordinating with a campaign, it has attracted a number of supporters with close and longstanding ties to Biden and President Barack Obama. Alcorn, who joined the group over the summer and is steering its activities, was previously the political director for Beau Biden, who served as Delaware’s attorney general. The ad was created by Democratic ad-maker Mark Putnam, who worked on Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Biden has said he’s considering entering the presidential race, but has yet to make a decision — to the dismay of ardent supporters calling for him to run. Earlier this week, Biden’s office pushed back aggressively against suggestions that Biden leaked word to a newspaper columnist of his son’s dying wish for him to run in an attempt to galvanize political support. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Possible Joe Biden bid for White House faces rough road
The only trace of the vice president came on a candy wrapper. Joe Biden may be considering whether to enter the race for president, but he sat out last week’s meeting of the Democratic National Committee. In his place, backers greeted a curious few in a hotel suite 20 floors above the official gathering, handing out chocolate bars wrapped with a stylized photo of Biden behind the wheel of a convertible and an “I’m Ridin’ with Biden” label. In any other year, a sitting vice president would have headlined such a meeting as the heavy favorite for the party’s nomination. Instead, the gathering served as proof that if Biden choses to run, he’ll do so as an underdog to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton’s years-long flirtation with a second White House campaign — time her allies used to lock up support of much of the Democratic Party’s leadership — and her undeniable political celebrity have upended the traditional script. Rather than inheriting his party’s machine, a Biden campaign would have to find a way to take it back. “Secretary Clinton’s folks have been talking to these people for a very, very long time,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose vibrant crowds and steady poll numbers make him Clinton’s strongest current challenger. “So she has a huge advantage.” Yet Biden’s supporters see an opening, due in no small part to Clinton’s inability to shake questions about her use of a personal email server while serving as secretary of state. His candor, long history of fighting for Democratic causes and personal struggles — a widower at a young age now grieving over the recent death of his son Beau — make him an admired figure in the party. “He’s one of us. He gets it,” said Jon Cooper, a supporter who this summer began working with a group encouraging Biden to enter the race. “Everybody likes Joe Biden.” That group, a super PAC named Draft Biden, is a blend of Chicago-based fans of the vice president and political operatives with ties to his family. It sent five employees to the DNC meeting, emailing attendees and passing out fliers in hallways to invite people to their pro-Biden hotel suite. A total of about 75 came to four open-house sessions, said Josh Alcorn, a former aide to Beau Biden who joined the group with the family’s blessing. “People seemed excited about the possibility and were willing to take a look,” he said. Some Democrats who heard the pitch asked to stay in touch. Others remained skeptical. “I asked them, ‘What’s his path?’” said Mitchell Ceasar, a Florida attorney and party operative. Their answer — that he could cobble together votes from all sorts of Democratic coalitions — prompted a shrug. “The challenge to the vice president is to present a compelling argument why someone should get on a different train, a different train that’s going in the same direction,” he said. The practicalities of running also remain difficult for the vice president. His supporters say he must decide before the first Democratic debate, in mid-October. While Biden has no campaign operation beyond the small Draft Biden group, Clinton has for months built a sprawling machine of hundreds of employees working out of her Brooklyn campaign headquarters and in dozens of offices across the country. Her version of Draft Biden, a since-shuttered outside group called Ready for Hillary, spent years before Clinton got into the race amassing millions of email addresses of potential supporters. Money is another challenge. Biden represented the small state of Delaware in the Senate and has never raised significant sums for his own campaigns. Draft Biden, just a few months old, raised less than $100,000 through the end of June. While supporters say bigger checks have been rolling in recently, Clinton is a former first lady and senator from New York with a strong fundraising history. In the first three months of her campaign, she raised $45 million for the primary contest alone. Clinton’s team has also devoted significant resources already to wooing super delegates — the party and elected officials empowered to select the presidential nominee at the Democratic national convention regardless of the 2016 primaries. Clinton backers, who sported gold “H” lapel pins at the DNC meetings, were rewarded for their loyalty with invitations to private briefings from Clinton and top campaign officials. Several hundred Democratic delegates who signed cards pledging to support her mingled atop a skyscraper in downtown Minneapolis Thursday night. Clinton talked for about 15 minutes, drawing cheers when she assured them, “I’m not a quitter.” Ed Cote, a Washington state Democratic leader and a Clinton admirer, said that event was a perfect example of why Biden would find himself in a tougher primary than a sitting vice president might expect. “Most of the people there have votes on the first ballots, and they’re solidly with her,” Cote said. “She’s doing exactly what she needs to be doing.” Clinton learned the importance of that support in 2008, when she ended her long, hard-fought primary campaign after it became clear she lacked enough delegates to capture the nomination. “We are working really hard to lock in as many supporters as possible,” Clinton said Friday. “This is really about how you put the numbers together to secure the nomination.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
