LAS VEGAS — As Vice President Joe Biden contemplates a run for the Democratic nomination, supporters of other candidates cautioned him not to enter the race, saying there’s not enough room in the race for the vice president.
Hillary Clinton had a strong performance and Bernie Sanders largely fell flat during the first Democratic debate Tuesday night, and both have been campaigning since April. If Biden were to enter the race he’d likely pull support from Clinton, but at present he only polls at roughly 20 percent of the vote.
With state filing deadlines coming as soon as Nov. 6, Biden will have to announce sooner rather than later. But as the leading candidates gain strength, momentum and funds, the opening for Biden shrinks.
“Everyday that goes by, [Clinton] keeps getting stronger and it makes it harder for him to get in the race,” Clinton supporter Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said in the spin room after the debate. “And not only will she gain in popularity tonight because of her performance, she also has a really strong ground game here in Nevada … That’s something that [Biden] doesn’t have right now.”
The vice president has yet to campaign, but the Draft Biden Super PAC has been supporting his efforts and fundraising for him should he decide to run for office. If the vice president enters the race, the PAC will have over $3 million on hand to support his efforts, along with very limited ground organization in key early primary states. Clinton and Sanders on the other hand, have raised tens of millions of dollars already and have large, widespread support and volunteers.
“Time is really running out if people want to be apart of the process,” Sanders senior adviser Tad Devine told the Washington Examiner after the debate. “I’ll just tell you from our perspective, and obviously the vice president’s situation is different than Bernie Sanders’ was, when he announced on April 30 that he was going to run I think it was the last possible day he could have gotten in and put in place a winning campaign.”
Unlike Sanders, who clawed up from relative anonymity, the vice president has very high name recognition and would be popular among voters if he entered the race. In the cable advertisements that Draft Biden has released encouraging the VP to run, the PAC features Biden’s emphasis on working class and labor issues.
“I think there’s a space for the issues that Biden raises, and I think that [Clinton] and the other candidates have to do a better job of addressing the issues that Vice President Joe Biden raises naturally,” DNC Vice Chair Maria Elena Durazo said following the debate. “He raises the issues very well and I think the other candidates need to do it that way.”
