What People are Saying About A Possible Biden Candidacy

White House: The Vice President Knows How to Mount a Successful Presidential Campaign. Per White House Secretary Josh Earnest, “I’ll just say that the Vice President is somebody who has already run for President twice. He’s been on a national ticket through two election cycles now, both in 2008 and in the reelection of 2012. And so I think you could make the case that there is probably no one in American politics today who has a better understanding of exactly what is required to mount a successful national presidential campaign.” [Press Briefing, 8/24/15]

The Vice President Has Time to Mount a Successful Campaign. “The decision clock is ticking for Vice President Joe Biden to decide about a presidential run — and history hasn’t been kind to past candidates who waited until the last minute. … But the situations aren’t totally analogous. Biden does not have the name ID problem others in the past had, and he’s certainly more politically experienced than Clark. Thompson and Perry both seemed to lack the passion Biden frequently exhibits. And, what’s more, none of them was the sitting vice president to a president still very popular with the party’s base. ‘I think it’s difficult for a candidate to get in very late, but what’s different about Joe Biden is that he’s a sitting vice president,’ said Jamal Simmons, who served as Clark’s press secretary in 2004. ‘Clark had never run for any office. He had to build a campaign and learn how to be a politician at the same time,’ added Simmons, who’s now a Democratic consultant and co-founder of CRVIII.com. ‘Biden has done it twice before and has a network and a database of donors to rely on.’” [NPR, 8/25/15]

Many Top Obama Fundraisers Remain Uncommitted. NBC News’ Peter Alexander reported that, “There is one piece of really good news for Biden here. Only a small percentage of Obama’s top fundraisers from 2012 have already committed to bundling large sums of money for the Clinton campaign.” [NBC, Today Show, 8/25/15]

The Vice President Could Attract Real Support from the LGBT Community. “There are few politicians who’ve been more outspoken on LGBT rights in a gut-level, passionate way than Vice President Joe Biden. Nor has there been any politician so public in his or her opinions and so close to a president who catapulted LGBT rights during his two terms, profoundly making history. … And that may present a problem for Clinton — who some recent reports suggest has wide support among LGBT voters — if Biden jumps in the race, in the same way we saw support from LGBT activists begin to cleave between Clinton and Obama during the 2008 primaries. The LGBT electorate is not a big one. But it is a politically active, organized and influential one, raising a lot of money for candidates and, like other minority groups focused on attaining rights, providing worker bees during campaigns who galvanize and energize the larger electorate — and in the case of LGBT organizers, that’s had a big impact on energizing younger voters too.” [Huffington Post, 8/25/15]