There has been more media speculation about Joe Biden running for president in recent weeks, but many Democrats don’t expect him to get in unless Hillary Clinton looks weaker.
Nevertheless, people keep joining Biden’s eager super PAC in the hopes of setting up the infrastructure for the vice president to run. On Monday two prominent Democratic strategists, Josh Cohen and Brad Bauman, signed up to work on the Draft Biden effort.
Jos Alcorn, a senior adviser to the late vice president’s son Beau Biden, joined the Draft Biden team last week to help lay the foundation for a 2016 presidential bid. Alcorn also served as finance director to Beau, raising over $1.2 million to help the younger Biden run for governor of Delaware. The gubernatorial run never happened because of Beau’s health.
To donors, Alcorn joining the Biden movement was a sign the vice president was seriously thinking about running. Beau reportedly encouraged his father to run, saying that running is “who you are.” The personal connection between father and son was strong enough, that many Democrats believe this request could catapult Biden into the race.
Prominent Democrat and longtime Biden supporter Dick Harpootlian has committed $10,000 of his personal funds to the Draft Biden PAC, according to national finance director Jon Cooper.
Cooper said that while Harpootlian has been always been very supportive of the vice president, Alcorn coming on board was “a sign” for him to financially commit to Draft Biden’s efforts.
“We believe that many of them will see that Josh Alcorn coming on board as a very positive sign,” said a member of the Draft Biden. “We expect that over the coming weeks we will see fundraising and public support for a Biden candidacy to grow exponentially.”
No one in the PAC is speaking to the vice president directly, and no one knows when he’ll announce. Now that President Obama has tasked Biden with helping get the Iran deal through the Senate, Biden could wait until September, if he ever runs at all. Some Democrats hope he won’t.
“Right now people are very happy with Hillary’s candidacy, they like her, they like what she stands for, they feel she’s earned it,” said one Democrat close to both Clinton and Biden who preferred not to be named. “And they’re happy to have her be the nominee. If that’s replaced by a bitter divisive fight, I think people might hold that against the vice president, and possibly weaken the Democrats chance of winning the election.”
In recent polls, Biden takes third place at 12.8 percent, behind Hillary Clinton at 55.4 percent and Bernie Sanders at 19.7 percent. Biden supporters think those numbers will rise if he declares his candidacy, while others think they are a bad sign for a sitting vice president with name recognition comparable to Clinton’s.
So far, Clinton has remained relatively quiet on the subject of a possible Biden run, but when asked about it by reporters in New Hampshire on Monday Clinton responded that she considers Biden a “friend” and that she has “the highest regard and affection for him.” She then stated that she thinks the public should “just let the vice president be with his family and make whatever decision he believes is right for him, adding that she “will respect whatever that decision is.”
Not all Democrats agree. The Democrat who worried about Biden hurting Clinton in the general election said “I think people would hold against him” if he participated in a big intra-party fight. Democrats in particular “would be unhappy that Biden is putting himself in that fight.”
