US Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Florida, where he is sure to get a glimpse of his presidential prospects as he considers a late entry into next year’s Democratic primaries.
Biden was yesterday scheduled to appear at Miami Dade College and headline a private fund-raiser for Senate Democrats, as he mulls a potential challenge to Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. Interest in a Biden bid has intensified in recent weeks as Clinton has struggled with what some Democrats consider a lackluster start to her campaign and scrutiny over her use of a private e-mail account and server as former US secretary of state.
“There’s a malaise inside the race right now with Clinton. People I know who are supporting her are not necessarily withdrawing, but are unenthusiastic,” said Tony Bisagnano, an Iowa state senator who backed Biden’s campaign in 2008 and wants him to run again.
However, he added: “We’re getting close to where it’s going to be a tough race if he [Biden] waits much longer.”
A Democrat familiar with Biden’s deliberations said recent discussions have focused on whether Biden’s family would support a third presidential campaign only months after the death of the vice president’s son, Beau Biden.
Also under consideration is whether Biden can meet the basic criteria to be a serious contender, such as whether he would have a plausible path to victory in the primary campaign and whether he would be able to raise enough money to be competitive.
The Democrat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the private conversations.
Biden’s overnight trip to Florida, one of the US’ most important campaign battleground states, was scheduled to include a fund-raiser last night alongside Florida Senator Bill Nelson, aimed at benefiting the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm and meetings with Jewish leaders this morning who are skeptical of US President Barack Obama’s effort to win support for a nuclear deal with Iran.
Tonight, Biden is due to pitch the Iran deal in an address to Jewish leaders in Atlanta. He then heads to Pittsburgh to march in a Labor Day parade on Monday next week with labor union AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who met privately with the vice president last week.
Trumka, speaking to reporters at a breakfast on Tuesday, said Biden still has a valid path if he decides to enter the race, adding that many voters are just beginning to pay attention to the process.
“The field is still wide open. There’s still a lot of time,” Trumka said.
The travel to Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania would mark the latest chapter in Biden’s deliberations, which have included private discussions with family members and long-time aides and with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a popular liberal whose endorsement would be coveted by any Democratic candidate.
The discussions come even as Biden and his family mourn the death of Beau Biden, the former Delaware attorney general.
“I know he’s still going through a lot of pain and suffering over the loss of his son,” said Steve Shurtleff, the New Hampshire House Democratic leader who backed Biden’s unsuccessful 2008 primary campaign. “His brain may be telling him one thing, but his heart may be telling him another thing.”
Biden is expected to make a decision within one month and Democrats said he would need to join the field in advance of the first televised debate on Oct. 13. Should he do so, he would face several major obstacles against a field that includes Clinton, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and others.
While a recent poll in Iowa showed Biden in a respectable third place against Clinton and Sanders, both are building large campaign organizations in key states and raising millions of dollars. Sanders has drawn large, enthusiastic crowds to his rallies across the US, energizing his campaign.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was