Mitt Romney had barely finished his concession speech last November
when pundits began discussing potential Republican candidates for the
2016 presidential contest. Since Barack Obama emerged victorious, they
waited a little longer to start considering the Democratic field; but
now that his second and final term has begun, the speculation is going
full steam ahead.
According to a lengthy Politico story, the Democrat currently showing the greatest interest in succeeding Obama is none other than Vice President Joe Biden.
“I took a look at who was there and said to myself, ‘There’s no question he’s thinking about the future,’” New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, one of the attendees, told Politico.
Although vice presidents often seek to succeed the presidents under whom they have served, Biden was not previously considered likely to do so. He is 70 years old now and will turn 74 in 2016. He has run for president twice before — in 1988, when he was caught appropriating a British politician’s life story for his own and discovered to be a serial plagiarizer, and 2008 — and (in Politico’s vernacular) “bombed” both times.
Then there’s the matter of competition for the nomination. Although outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has previously denied any intention to run for president in 2016, Democrats seem eager for her to give it another try. (She lost the nomination to Obama in 2008.) During Clinton’s testimony at the Benghazi hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, California Sen. Barbara Boxer told Clinton, “You will be sorely missed, but I for one hope for not too long” — a remark the chattering classes are taking as a thinly veiled plug for a 2016 Clinton run. American Samoa Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, Jr., was even more direct, telling the secretary, “I salute you and I look ahead to 2016, wishing you much success and extending to you my highest regards.”
Clinton would certainly be a formidable opponent. “She is a rock star with higher favorable ratings and the capacity to clear the field if she goes all-in,” writes Politico. “She is also a she — and Democrats are eager to elect the first women [sic] after electing the first African-American.”
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According to a lengthy Politico story, the Democrat currently showing the greatest interest in succeeding Obama is none other than Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden, according to a number of advisers
and Democrats who have spoken to him in recent months, wants to run, or
at least be well positioned to run, if and when he decides to pull the
trigger. Biden has expressed a clear sense of urgency, convinced the
Democratic field will be defined quickly — and that it might very well
come down to a private chat with Hillary Clinton about who should finish
what Barack Obama started.
“He’s intoxicated by the idea, and it’s impossible not to be intoxicated by the idea,” said a Democrat close to the White House. And the intoxication is hardly new. Officials working on the Obama-Biden campaign last year were struck by how the vice president always seemed to have one eye on a run, including aggressively courting the president’s donors. Obama aides at times had to actively steer Biden to places where he was needed — such as Pennsylvania — because he kept asking to be deployed to Iowa, New Hampshire, and other early states.
“He wasn’t just doing fundraising the campaign assigned to him,” said a campaign adviser. “He was inviting people to the mansion to hang out and have dinner.” Biden was way more into the donors than Obama was. “He embraced it with a tirelessness and a gusto that even the president didn’t,” another campaign official said.
Biden also threw a party at the Naval Observatory, the vice
president’s residence, on Inauguration Day. Invited were “more than 200
Democratic insiders,” says Politico, including a significant number “from the traditional first nominating states.”“He’s intoxicated by the idea, and it’s impossible not to be intoxicated by the idea,” said a Democrat close to the White House. And the intoxication is hardly new. Officials working on the Obama-Biden campaign last year were struck by how the vice president always seemed to have one eye on a run, including aggressively courting the president’s donors. Obama aides at times had to actively steer Biden to places where he was needed — such as Pennsylvania — because he kept asking to be deployed to Iowa, New Hampshire, and other early states.
“He wasn’t just doing fundraising the campaign assigned to him,” said a campaign adviser. “He was inviting people to the mansion to hang out and have dinner.” Biden was way more into the donors than Obama was. “He embraced it with a tirelessness and a gusto that even the president didn’t,” another campaign official said.
“I took a look at who was there and said to myself, ‘There’s no question he’s thinking about the future,’” New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, one of the attendees, told Politico.
Although vice presidents often seek to succeed the presidents under whom they have served, Biden was not previously considered likely to do so. He is 70 years old now and will turn 74 in 2016. He has run for president twice before — in 1988, when he was caught appropriating a British politician’s life story for his own and discovered to be a serial plagiarizer, and 2008 — and (in Politico’s vernacular) “bombed” both times.
Then there’s the matter of competition for the nomination. Although outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has previously denied any intention to run for president in 2016, Democrats seem eager for her to give it another try. (She lost the nomination to Obama in 2008.) During Clinton’s testimony at the Benghazi hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, California Sen. Barbara Boxer told Clinton, “You will be sorely missed, but I for one hope for not too long” — a remark the chattering classes are taking as a thinly veiled plug for a 2016 Clinton run. American Samoa Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, Jr., was even more direct, telling the secretary, “I salute you and I look ahead to 2016, wishing you much success and extending to you my highest regards.”
Clinton would certainly be a formidable opponent. “She is a rock star with higher favorable ratings and the capacity to clear the field if she goes all-in,” writes Politico. “She is also a she — and Democrats are eager to elect the first women [sic] after electing the first African-American.”
Read More