Ken Thomas and Lisa Lerer at the AP report that
In ways both subtle and blunt, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign is sending a message to Vice President Joe Biden about his potential presidential campaign: This won’t be easy.
One wonders if the Biden people needed to be reminded. But the Clinton operation isn’t likely to leave anything to chance. So
As Biden ponders a challenge to Clinton for the Democratic nomination, she has rolled out a string of high-profile endorsements in the early-voting contests of Iowa and South Carolina and scheduled an onslaught of fundraisers across the country in the effort to throw cold water on a possible Biden bid.
Hardball this is not. And so far
While Clinton and her team speak warmly of Biden in public, they have taken steps to show their dominance over the party’s establishment and President Barack Obama’s political infrastructure in hopes of quietly discouraging the vice president from entering the race.
But the Clinton operation can, surely, turn up more heat than that. The candidate is, after all, capable of calling Republicans “terrorists.” And we all remember the way the Clinton’s played the game when Bill stood accused of having sex “with that woman.”
No, they won’t make it easy on Biden. Of that we can be sure.
