The Democratic party is desperately in need of some new blood. During the eight years of the Obama administration and the two midterm elections which occurred, their back bench was decimated. Now, despite the desire of the base for fresh faces, former Vice President Joe Biden is dropping not-so-subtle hints that he may run again.
Edward Isaac-Dovere reports at Politico:
Biden hits the trail like he’s runningCue the jokes: Joe Biden is running. In fact, he spent much of Labor Day sprinting, more than a mile in total, doing intervals through the streets of one of America’s biggest union towns.Biden was here for the city’s Labor Day parade three years ago, the one and only campaign event of his almost-but-never-launched 2016 presidential campaign. A year later, he was back with Tim Kaine, trying to transfer his connection with these voters to the Democratic ticket.Monday’s parade kicked off what will be an intense, nine-week stretch of campaigning for Democratic candidates in the midterms, but also an extended gut check of whether the country has an appetite for another Biden run—and for him to decide if he has the appetite to make one.But here, in a part of the country that helped tip the 2016 election to Donald Trump but has since delivered Democrats their only House special election win, this is what a potential 2020 bid would look like: classic retail campaigning in parts of the country where Democrats have atrophied and which Hillary Clinton wrote off.
He’s certainly making himself very visible:
The Associated Press has more:
Will Joe run? Biden feels the push to take on Trump in 2020Shortly after Joe Biden boarded a recent flight from Washington to New York, a string of passengers began stopping at his seat in coach to deliver some version of the same message: Run, Joe, run. “We’re with you,” one said, according to a Democratic strategist who happened to be on the plane and witnessed the scene. “You’ve got to do this,” said another.Biden himself is more conflicted — but he is listening keenly to the supporters pushing him to run for the White House in 2020. Biden is convinced he can beat President Donald Trump, friends and advisers say, and he has given himself until January to deliberate and size up potential competition for the Democratic nomination, according to people who have spoken to the former vice president about his decision-making…Biden would likely cast a long shadow, but a candidate Biden is not expected to clear what will be a crowded field of aspiring presidents in 2020. He would have competition for the support of the Democratic establishment. And he would almost certainly face tough challenges from the left — the source of much of the party’s energy at the moment — possibly from liberal firebrands Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The 2020 Democratic primary is sure to be a high stakes game of identity politics, so it’s hard to see how Biden would play to progressive voters. Then again, perhaps they’ll suspend their unofficial ban on old, straight, white men if they think he can beat Trump.
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