Run, Joe, Run!
Via CSM
Vice President Joe Biden has long harbored dreams of being president. He’s run twice before, clearly relishes political life, and has yet to rule out a third try – even as Hillary Clinton dominates in fundraising and in polls of Democrats.
After the death on May 30 of Mr. Biden’s beloved elder son, Beau, such talk was put on hold. But in recent days, speculation has begun to soar. New York businessman Jon Cooper, a former Obama fundraising bundler now working on a draft effort to get Biden into the race, told the Monitor Thursday that he puts the probability of Biden running at 80 percent.
“I’m as convinced as I can be that Joe Biden will be entering the presidential race,” said Mr. Cooper, who bases his assessment on signals from Biden’s inner circle, though he can’t name names.
Cooper has been sounding out potential donors, and already has commitments from five Obama contributors. On Thursday, Cooper signed on as national finance chair for an independent effort called Draft Biden 2016. Launched in March, the Chicago-based group has collected more than 100,000 signatures, and now has staff on the ground in early nominating states – Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The group has also hired a national fundraising firm.
Biden could also find encouragement in a new CNN/ORC national poll released Wednesday. Without lifting a finger, he is running second in the Democratic field, at 16 percent. Though Biden is well behind former Secretary Clinton (57 percent), he’s in a statistical tie with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont (14 percent), who has been campaigning hard and drawing crowds numbering in the thousands. Perhaps more important, Biden is national Democrats’ second-choice candidate, with 35 percent saying he’s their second choice and 14 percent choosing Sanders. If Clinton were to falter seriously, Democrats’ second-choice candidate could be the biggest beneficiary.