Clinton trying to discourage Biden from presidential bid
WASHINGTON: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign is sending a message to Vice President Joe Biden about his potential 2016 presidential campaign: This won’t be easy. As Biden ponders a challenge to front-runner Clinton for the Democratic nomination, she has rolled out a string of high-profile endorsements in Iowa and South Carolina, which hold two of the first votes in the nominating process, and scheduled an onslaught of fundraisers across the US in the effort to throw cold water on a possible Biden bid.
Donors who have publicly expressed support for a Biden run have been contacted by the Clinton team, according to donors and Democratic strategists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private conversations. Even Clinton herself has made a few calls, they said, to express her disappointment. 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.
The effort comes as Clinton and the Democratic field of candidates prepare to address members of the Democratic National Committee on Friday during their summer meeting in Minneapolis. The night before her formal address, Clinton made her case in private briefings to attendees. Meanwhile, representatives from a super political action committee backing Biden plan to woo delegates in his absence. ‘Organizing advantage’ “I have great deal of admiration and affection for him,” Clinton said of Biden during a stop in Iowa on Wednesday. “I think he has to make what is a very difficult decision for himself and his family. He should have the space and the opportunity to decide what he wants to do.” While Biden considered his options, Clinton’s team released a series of memos Thursday night that detailed their organizing work in early voting states. “For months, we were the only campaign on either side of the aisle with offices and staff reaching out to voters,” wrote Clay Middleton, her state director in South Carolina. “This head start has provided an organizing advantage.”
Clinton’s campaign has taken other steps in South Carolina to showcase her clout there. She recently picked up the endorsements of two former governors, Jim Hodges and Dick Riley, who served as education secretary during Bill Clinton’s administration. Her campaign’s chairman, John Podesta, appeared at an event in the state last week.
During a trip to the Iowa State Fair earlier this month, former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin joined Clinton and endorsed her campaign. When she returned to Iowa this week, she was joined by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor who wrote in an oped in the Gazette of Cedar Rapids that he intended to caucus for her, “plain and simple.”
Clinton’s fundraising apparatus has extensive overlap with Biden’s, causing some awkwardness among their donors. Clinton’s campaign, however, is not leaving an opening in fundraising, lining up about three dozen events in September. While her husband presides over the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York in late September, Clinton will raise money at seven fundraisers planned in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Following her West Coast swing, she will tap into the network of country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw at a Nashville fundraiser on Sept 29. Those advocating for a Biden run say they will be able to build a vibrant primary organization and have already solicited commitments from a number of Clinton backers who say they are ready to switch sides.