Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are preparing to head an all-star cast of ex-administration officials and party elders helping Joe Biden win back the White House for Democrats, but one alumna may have a less vocal and visible role.
Hillary Clinton, a divisive figure among swing state voters and independents as opposed to die-hard Democrats still smarting from her unexpected loss to President Trump in 2016, has dipped in and out of 2020 primary politics. However, the party’s past nominee has yet to endorse Biden.
In contrast, Obama, as well as Biden’s vanquished 2020 primary rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, this week fell in line behind the party’s next standard-bearer.
Tom Cochran, a partner with public relations firm 720 Strategies, didn’t anticipate that Clinton would be on the trail with Biden “that much, if at all.” Though he also questioned what the campaign would look like as the novel coronavirus pandemic hampers American life, forcing millions to stay cooped up inside their homes.
“I see Obama in this far more than Clinton, but from a fundraising standpoint, absolutely she can play a big role,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Yet while Clinton may not dominate the limelight during the general election, she will have a part to play as Biden goes head-to-head with Trump, a bruising contest with which the former first lady, New York senator, and Obama secretary of state is all too familiar.
“Well, don’t forget: She won the election by 3 million votes last time. The Electoral College math didn’t work in her favor,” Cochran said.
Clinton was jeered ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses in February for dredging up her grudge with Sanders. The Vermont senator challenged her for the 2016 nomination before becoming Biden’s holdout opponent this year.
“You all know I can’t be quiet. No, we’re gonna boo,” said Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Sanders supporter, at a rally in Iowa after Clinton claimed nobody liked him and his fans had been duped.
Although past comments such as that suggest she won’t bridge the gap between Biden and Sanders backers anytime soon, she does have a constituency among Democrats who feel she was “robbed” of the White House four years ago and still resent the sexism she encountered last cycle, founder of public opinion research firm Lincoln Park Strategies Stefan Hankin said.
For Hankin, it’s not a good idea to simply “push” anyone aside if they can connect to voters and talk credibly about issues, including global pandemics and the importance of international alliances as the country’s former top diplomat.
“There’s definitely an audience that she can speak to and can, I think, energize in a different way than Biden can,” Hankin told the Washington Examiner, referring to her residual cachet with Democratic women and African Americans.
He added, “But then, I don’t imagine that she’s going to be the poster child in, you know, more rural areas. She’s not going to be the person that they would send out to Wisconsin to start knocking on doors and talking to voters kind of thing.”
Clinton lost Wisconsin to Trump in 2016 by less than 1 percentage point — about 23,000 votes. Biden has an early advantage on Trump in the battleground state, averaging a 2.7 percentage point lead, according to RealClearPolitics polling data. The two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator has a slighter larger berth on the incumbent in Michigan and Pennsylvania, other states where his predecessor was defeated, which many political pundits say cost her the election.
Regardless of “animosity” in the party, the key for Biden’s camp will be drowning out Trump with a chorus of voices espousing a Democratic vision for the country, Hankin said.
“If you’re on the far Left, is Biden the most progressive candidate in the world? Obviously not, but he is sure a hell of a lot better than anything you’re going to get out of another four years of Trump,” he added.
