Presidential Candidates 2016: 10 Democrats Who Might Be the Next Nominee

[Dos Equis]

Clinton, DNC face pressure to add debates
By GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI
09/16/15

The increasingly public rift between Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and others in her party’s leadership over the number of presidential debates is threatening to become more than just embarrassing to the DNC.

It’s spelling trouble for Hillary Clinton, the faltering front-runner who can’t afford to look like she’s being protected by party insiders, say Democrats aligned with both the DNC and 2016 campaigns.

On one side of the fight is a pair of party vice chairs and 2016 candidate Martin O’Malley, who have complained in recent weeks that the DNC should sponsor more than its six planned debates – only four of which will take place before voting in Iowa -- and have protested the committee’s vow to punish candidates who try to participate in unsanctioned events.

On the other side is Wasserman Schultz, who steadfastly insists she won’t budge from the plan, which was carefully negotiated with the campaigns this spring — part of a process that included convincing the Clinton camp to agree to so many debates in the first place.

“There has been discussion between the officers of the DNC and the chairwoman, [but] she’s made her decision and her position clear,” said DNC vice chair Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman who — along with former Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak, another vice chair — is calling for more debates.

With the fault lines drawn, many Democrats believe that it would take nothing less than a direct call from Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn — or the White House — to change Wasserman Schultz’s mind.

And that, they say, reflects poorly on Clinton — who now maintains she would be open to more debates, but whose reluctance to press the issue with Wasserman Schultz appears to reflect her true intentions.

“I think every Democratic campaign and the DNC should have to explain why we are ceding the discussion and attention to the Republicans by refusing to the kind of robust debate schedule we've always had,” said O’Malley’s campaign manager Dave Hamrick in a statement to POLITICO. “The question remains -- if the DNC is still holding to their unprecedented exclusivity clause, are they doing it at the Clinton campaign's request?"

Clinton’s position is delicate, said a handful of Democrats. If the debate complaints were to grow louder or if her prime rival Bernie Sanders were to push the issue more aggressively, Clinton would find herself under even greater pressure to use her leverage with Wasserman Schultz to allow for more debates.

Wasserman Schultz is widely viewed as closer to Clinton than to other candidates or to President Barack Obama, and the Clinton campaign was the first to sign a joint fundraising agreement with the party committee.

And if Wasserman Schultz wants to keep her job after Democrats name their nominee, “she’s got to keep the Clinton people happy,” said one DNC veteran, operating under the widely held assumption that Clinton will eventually win the nomination.

As a result, some Sanders and O’Malley supporters have claimed that the DNC chose its debate plan with an eye toward helping Clinton. At the DNC’s summer meeting in Minneapolis, O’Malley declared that the debate schedule was “rigged” in favor of Clinton. (A Clinton campaign spokeswoman declined to comment for this story.)

For now, the Clinton campaign remains in favor of keeping the number of debates low, say people familiar with Brooklyn’s thinking, to avoid squandering her advantage as the best-known Democrat in the race — and to limit the opportunities for her rivals to rattle her on television.

But Clinton’s position might change if the campaign of Sanders – far ahead of O'Malley in the polls – were to push the matter.

The Vermonter’s team is instead focusing on cooperating with the DNC while its candidate edges past Clinton in both New Hampshire and Iowa.

“When you get into these political debates about debates, you stop communicating about issues that affect the lives of people, and you begin to communicate about things that people in Washington obsess about,” explained Tad Devine, Sanders’ top strategist. “It’s nothing against O’Malley. We join him in calling for more debates. That’s our position. But are we going to have a sit-down in the DNC lobby? No."

For his part, O’Malley – who is trailing both Clinton and Sanders by a huge margin – took the unusual step of railing against the party leadership on stage at the DNC summer meeting in Minnesota, just a few feet away from an annoyed Wasserman Schultz. He gained some crucial support last Wednesday when Gabbard and Rybak put out a statement urging more debates.

Gabbard and Rybak had made the case for more debates directly to both Wasserman Schultz and the other vice chairs, according to Gabbard. But when it became clear that the chairwoman was not going to budge, Gabbard said, they moved forward with the statement, posted to Gabbard's Facebook wall.

Wasserman Schultz told others that she had not known that Gabbard and Rybak were prepared to go public, said one DNC operative, which served to heighten tensions within the DNC. But the whole drama has only toughened Wasserman Schultz’s resolve not to change the plan, according to DNC insiders.
Hamrick, O'Malley's campaign manager, will be part of a protest outside the DNC on Wednesday. He has asked all his counterparts on other campaigns to join in his call for more debates.

The DNC, for its part, is now on its third debate liaison to the campaigns this cycle after communications director Mo Elleithee left the committee in June. Former White House communications director Anita Dunn then took the debate role from him, before handing it off to former Obama strategist Erik Smith in late July.

Yet so far, the issue has yet to resonate on the campaign trail.

Less than a quarter of New Hampshire Democrats said they believed the party leadership was limiting the number of debates to help Clinton, according to a new Monmouth poll of the Granite State out on Tuesday. And a prominent swing-state DNC member said any talk of a nationwide conversation about the debates following O’Malley's speech was overblown.

“There’s not a hue and cry for more debates,” he said. “Martin did his thing and he’s trailing, so that’s what he needed to do to get some attention … I have not heard neither hide nor hair since Minneapolis."

Meanwhile, a pair of prominent New Hampshire DNC members aligned with Clinton similarly insisted they have heard no discussion of the issue among average voters the state, where a handful of prominent Democrats had signed a letter urging the DNC to add more debates before Gabbard and Rybak’s post.

“No one’s asked me to get involved in it,” said longtime Clinton ally Bill Shaheen.

“I haven’t heard anything from other DNC members, and this is something the membership doesn’t have any control over,” added former New Hampshire party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan.

So for the time being, said the swing state official, the conversation is stuck in Washington, much to Clinton’s relief.

“It’s got this inside baseball feel, deep in the dugout,” he said. “It’s more about bruised feelings — a ‘you didn’t include me in the discussion’ deal — than a philosophical conversation about whether we should have more debates."

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-dnc-debates-2016-wasserman-schultz-213667#ixzz3lvQZL7ym

[Dos Equis]

Jerry Brown Considering Running for President?
"You could have a lot of big surprises."
SEP 16, 2015
BY MICHAEL WARREN

California governor Jerry Brown gave signs in a Wednesday interview on CNN that he may be considering running for president.

Brown, who has run for president three before, spoke with Wolf Blitzer about the current Democratic field. The Democrat said he has not yet endorsed a candidate, calling frontrunner Hillary Clinton "formidable" and refused to give advice about Vice President Joe Biden, who is reportedly mulling a run.

"I will say, though, about the Clintons, with some experience, they are very formidable," said Brown, who ran against Bill Clinton in 1992. "I would not underestimate Hillary Clinton."

Blitzer pressed Brown. "What are you waiting for?" said the host.

"I'm not as hasty as I was as a younger candidate or a younger elected official," Brown continued. "I'm enjoying the luxury of being on the sidelines, watching these shows tonight, watching the parade, and where I can be helpful, I'll jump in at the appropriate time."

When Blitzer asked repeatedly about the prospect of a Biden candidacy, Brown declined to comment.

"I would say, though, it is early," Brown said. "You could have a lot of big surprises, a lot of action between now and the first Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. A lot's going to happen in the Republican primary, and I think some things could happen on the Democratic side as well."

Watch the video below:

Earlier in the interview, Brown also made a comment that indicated he believed Americans were worse off economically since before Obama was elected president. While listing out several problems facing the country, Brown said America has a "financial system that is leaving the average American seven percent poorer than he or she was seven years ago."

Watch that video below:

Brown first ran for president in 1976, during his first term as governor. He ran again briefly in 1980, and then again in 1992, when he became the biggest challenger to Bill Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/jerry-brown-considering-running-president_1031871.ht

[Dos Equis]

As weak as he is, this might be his best opportunity.  Has there ever been a weaker Democrat field? 

Sources: Joe Biden Has Wife's Support for WH Bid
by Chuck Todd and Alexandra Jaffe
 
Contrary to reports suggesting Vice President Joe Biden's wife remains an obstacle to his potential presidential run, sources tell NBC News that Jill Biden is fully behind him for another bid.

Jill Biden, sources tell NBC's Chuck Todd, is 100 percent on-board with a presidential run, despite reports indicating her hesitation is part of what's keeping Biden from jumping into the race.

And that looks more likely by the day, as sources have indicated Biden's been meeting with Democratic leaders during his travels around the nation over the past week to tell them he wants to do it and thinks there's room for him to make a credible bid if he does.

The key question that's still weighing on his mind as he decides whether to make another go of it: Does he have the emotional energy to give it his all, sources say.

But Biden knows that if he has any hopes of winning the nomination, he's better off deciding whether to run by Oct. 1 than waiting until the drop-dead deadline of Nov. 5, the day before the first Democratic primary filing deadline, in Alabama.

Deciding within the next three weeks would give him a slot in the first Democratic primary debate, on Oct. 13 in Las Vegas.

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/sources-joe-biden-has-wifes-support-wh-bid-n430531

[Las Vegas]

Trying to minimize Bernie S.

[Dos Equis]

And worried about Hillary.

[Las Vegas]

And worried about Hillary.

I think they're worried about Bernie beating Hillary.  No way is Biden a stronger candidate than her in a general.  He's viewed as a juicer, for one thing.

[Las Vegas]

Once the general is on, it will become more difficult to mute messages.

[Dos Equis]

I think they're worried about Bernie beating Hillary.  No way is Biden a stronger candidate than her in a general.  He's viewed as a juicer, for one thing.

Might depend on whether she gets indicted.  Regardless, one thing I'm convinced about now:  she is not nearly as strong as I and a lot of others thought.

[240 is Back]

Biden entering the race only HELPS hilary.   She has the cash and infrastructure to win it no matter what, but Bernie will bloody her in a few liberal states.  I still predict she wins every single state against him, with it being close in NH for his moral victory.

[Las Vegas]

Biden entering the race only HELPS hilary.   She has the cash and infrastructure to win it no matter what, but Bernie will bloody her in a few liberal states.  I still predict she wins every single state against him, with it being close in NH for his moral victory.

do you like bernie?

[240 is Back]

do you like bernie?

i cannot stand bernie.   he's delusional and his practices will lead to a lazy nation.  And it'll cost 18 trillion or so.  socialism doesn't work.  He'll bring Europe to the USA.  Oh, and I hate hilary too

I still like Ted Cruz to emerge as the only fcking grownup in the republican mess, when all is said and done. 

[Las Vegas]

i cannot stand bernie.   he's delusional and his practices will lead to a lazy nation.  And it'll cost 18 trillion or so.  socialism doesn't work.  He'll bring Europe to the USA.  Oh, and I hate hilary too

I still like Ted Cruz to emerge as the only fcking grownup in the republican mess, when all is said and done. 

don't we already have a lazy nation?  i thought that's why we need all the mexicans, central americans, etc to come over.  that's what i've been told.

[240 is Back]

don't we already have a lazy nation?  i thought that's why we need all the mexicans, central americans, etc to come over.  that's what i've been told.

we're going to need to hire 3 million new cops, in order to round up, house, shoot it out with 30 million illegal aliens that trump plans to send to live in the desert.

someone has to man these new fema camps, where we lock them up.  that's 10% of the population going in there.  They gotta go, trump decided.  and repub base voters are making him #1, as they have faith in this democrat.

[Dos Equis]

Ed Klein to Newsmax: Obama Eyes Ex-Mass. Gov. Patrick as Biden Veep

Image: Ed Klein to Newsmax: Obama Eyes Ex-Mass. Gov. Patrick as Biden Veep (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
By Bill Hoffmann     
Tuesday, 22 Sep 2015

President Barack Obama has been secretly searching for a challenger to take down Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton — and is set to back Vice President Joe Biden, bestselling political insider Ed Klein tells Newsmax TV.

But that backing comes with a price: The White House would select his running mate, a candidate the president and his wife want to be a high-powered African American who can carry on the Obama legacy, Klein believes.

That choice, he says, is likely to be former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

"[He's] very close to Obama both personally and ideologically. They see another African-American coming along after Joe carrying on the Obama legacy," Klein said Tuesday on "Newsmax Prime" with host J.D. Hayworth.

"He is certainly their number one choice and he is number one because as you recall Obama actually gave a speech once in which he plagiarized some of Deval's own words.

"There's a very close infinity between Obama and Deval and they're very hot on him."

Klein said sinking Clinton has been in the White House mindset for a while.

"Not for days, not for weeks but for months the Obama team inside the White House has been courting an alternative to Hillary Clinton," Klein said.

"They courted [Massachsuetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren … They thought seriously about [former Maryland Gov.] Martin O'Malley and they liked him because they thought he was, as [Obama adviser] Valerie Jarett put it, "O'Malliable," that they can control him. Neither of those things worked."

That leaves Biden, who they now hope to convince to enter the 2016 race, said Klein, author of "Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas," published by Pinnacle.

"Politics being politics they've been very close to Joe. Valerie Jarrett has been helping him get over his grieving process with his son, Beau, who recently died of brain cancer. She's actually helped him with that," Klein said.

"They've been encouraging him to get in and they're saying to him, 'Hey Joe, we're really ready to endorse you but you know we want something back.' What they want back is a final say over his vice presidential nominee."

Obama and first lady Michelle want that influence, Klein said, because they have been thinking about their reign as "not eight years but decades long."

"They want to have a serious and profound impact on the Democratic Party going forward for years and years to come. They want to make sure that Biden picks the guy or woman who will carry on the legacy once Biden leaves the scene," he told Hayworth.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ed-klein-barack-obama-joe-biden/2015/09/22/id/692761/#ixzz3mWb0qQfL

[Dos Equis]

Poll: Sanders surges past Clinton in New Hampshire
By Eliza Collins
09/24/15

Bernie Sanders has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and now boasts a 16 point lead, according to a new poll out Thursday.

Sanders leads the Democratic field of likely Democratic primary voters with 46 percent, according to a New Hampshire Primary CNN/WMUR poll, while Clinton comes in second with 30 percent, and 14 percent would support Joe Biden. The vice president has yet to decide if he’ll enter the race, but he still leads Martin O’Malley (2 percent) and Jim Webb (1 percent).

Clinton’s numbers have been steadily declining since their high point in January, while Sanders has been on a sharp increase. The last CNN/WMUR poll taken in July showed Clinton with a slight lead.

Voters also think Sanders is a lot more favorable than the other candidates. The Vermont senator has +41 percent favorability, Clinton comes in second with +17 percent, while Biden has +12 percent.

Clinton and Biden are tied at 42 percent for who people think will take home the New Hampshire primary — Clinton decreased drastically and Sanders increased sharply from July to meet there.

New Hampshire voters — who often wait until closer to the primary to select their candidate — are still finicky about who they support though a larger number of Democratic primary voters have made up their mind than Republicans (25 percent compared to 13 percent of GOP). Twenty-eight percent are leaning towards a candidate but nearly half still have no clue who they’ll support.

The survey of 314 likely 2016 Democratic primary voters was taken Sept. 17-23. The margin of error for the poll that was taken over landlines and cellphones is plus or minus 5.5 percent.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/sanders-surge-new-hampshire-214043#ixzz3mhjRgGWr

[Dos Equis]

Biden will have chance to appear in first Democratic debate
CNN eases criteria to ensure more candidates on stage, while allowing for high drama around Biden.
By Hadas Gold
Updated 09/28/15

CNN announced its debate criteria on Monday, making clear that Vice President Joe Biden will have the chance to make it onto the first debate stage on Oct. 13, should he declare.

In order to qualify for the debate stage, candidates must have achieved an average of 1 percent in three polls, recognized by CNN, released between Aug. 1 and Oct. 10. Candidates must also declare by Oct. 14, CNN said, meaning that Biden could announce his candidacy the day of the debate and still qualify.
.
The rules creates a dramatic scenario for CNN, allowing it to build significant anticipation around its second primetime debate, after the network scored internal record ratings but mixed reviews for its GOP debate earlier this month. The more inclusive criteria also means that all five declared Democratic candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee — have been invited to participate in the debate, CNN said.

Democrats faced the possibility that the debate could have turned into a Clinton versus Sanders faceoff without wider debate criteria. Only Clinton, Sanders and Biden have been registering above 5 percent in the polls.

CNN changed the criteria initially set out by the Democratic National Committee, making sure more candidates would be on stage. When the DNC first released the debate schedule in August, it said the broadcasters had agreed that to qualify for a debate, candidates must get at least 1 percent in three credible national polls within the six weeks before the debate, which would have been early September. By extending the timeline to October, CNN cleared the way for Chafee, who had only reached 1 percent in two polls since early September. He had achieved 1 percent in early August Fox News and CBS News polls.

The dynamic between the criteria for the Democratic and GOP debates shows the vast differences between the two candidate lineups. The Republicans are grappling with a crowded 15-person field, leading to split debates and attempts to winnow the field through tougher debate criteria.

Lower-tiered candidates on the Republican side now also face the likely possibility there won't be an undercard stage for the Oct. 28 CNBC-hosted GOP debate, meaning they could be completely frozen out of the next event.

For CNN's GOP debate earlier this month, candidates had to have visited and have at least one paid campaign staffers in two of the four early states in addition to at least 1 percent in three national polls. CNN's Democratic debate has no early-state staffing or visit requirements.

“It’s a little bit of an issue, a little bit of a conundrum, for very different reasons than the Republicans,” former DNC communications director Mo Elleithee, who helped with the early stages of debate planning at the DNC, said before the criteria was released. “The reality here is: what kind of criteria do you set that actually gets all the credible candidates on stage in a field right now, where a lot of them just aren’t registering in polls?"

The debate will be held in Las Vegas at the Wynn Hotel on Oct. 13, at 9 p.m. and will last two hours, CNN said. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will moderate, while CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, CNN en Espańol Anchor Juan Carlos and CNN anchor Don Lemon will present questions. Lemon will ask questions submitted through Facebook, the debate's co-host.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/biden-will-have-chance-to-appear-in-first-democratic-debate-cnn-says-214141#ixzz3n5BoWBA5

[Dos Equis]

Bill Clinton Officially Freaks Out About Possible Joe Biden Run
by Julia Selinger
Aug 26, 2015

Joe Biden may be down to ride, but is he down to run? The Vice President and perennial silver fox has been playing will-he-won’t-he with a spot in the presidential race for months. Though he has been fielding support from donors and Democratic operatives this summer — a late start for any presidential hopeful — the veep has reportedly told supporters and potential backers that he will wait as late as October to make a decision.

While Hillary Clinton may have bigger fish to fry at the moment — she is still struggling with the email controversy, a perceived lack of honesty, and Bernie Sanders’ bump in the polls — her husband is less than enthused towards Biden’s potential candidacy. According to a source who has spoken with the former president in the past few weeks, Bill is “very agitated” by the possibility and the subsequent media hype Biden has been receiving.

In any case, Clinton campaign staffers have been discouraged from pushing negative press about Biden. Any smearing would likely backfire given Biden’s recent family tragedy.
 
“They better not do that,” a Biden confidant told Politico. “That would really bring out his Irish.”

Regardless of how the Clinton camp proceeds, it is clear that they will have their eyes on the VP in the coming months. One thing is certain: team Clinton “isn’t in a patient mood.”

https://www.slantnews.com/story/2015-08-26-bill-clinton-is-officially-freaking-out-about-joe-bidens-potential-candidacy?utm_source=outbrain&utm_term=1982

[Dos Equis]

Biden May Miss First Democratic Debate

Image: Biden May Miss First Democratic Debate  (Getty Images) 
By Loren Gutentag 
Thursday, 01 Oct 2015

Vice President Joe Biden has further extended his deadline to announce his run for the White House and is not expected to be on stage at the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, CNN reports.

For more than two months, Biden has been entertaining the idea of launching a presidential campaign and missed his original end-of-summer deadline as he and his team have been inundated by mounds of research and battle plans to launch a candidacy, CNN reports.

A senior Democrat who has spoken with Biden and spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity said, "There's far more talk than action" and "nothing is actually being done yet."

CNN says that as discussions with nearly two-dozen Democrats have taken place, when it comes to Biden running for president, they put it simply: He just hasn't made up his mind yet.

"If you would have asked me several months ago, I would have said he should decide by the beginning of October," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. "But as time goes by, his numbers continue to improve and more and more people want him to run. I don't think he has to do something this week. This month? Yeah."

Carper also mentioned Hillary Clinton's hearing on Benghazi which is set to take place on Oct. 22, but noted that he's not sure if the hearing is a possible factor keeping Biden from making a decision.

Meanwhile, as Hillary's poll numbers continue to dip, Biden's continue to rise, despite an official announcement.

"I love Joe Biden because of his honesty and authenticity," said Jon Cooper, national finance chairman of Draft Biden, CNN reports. "At the end of the day, if he were to say no, I would absolutely understand. But I'm the eternal optimist. I'm absolutely convinced he's running."

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/joe-biden-democratic-debate/2015/10/01/id/694209/#ixzz3nLdMFTcV

[Dos Equis]

Poll: Hillary Clinton still leads Sanders and Biden, but by less
Susan Page and Paulina Firozi, USA Today
October 1, 2015

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field in a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, but she no longer commands the support of a majority of Democrats as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Vice President Biden gain ground.

Clinton is backed by 41% of likely Democratic primary voters, a double-digit drop since the USA TODAY poll taken two months ago, and Sanders is supported by 23%, a jump. Biden is the choice of 20% even though he hasn't announced whether he will jump in the race.

By nearly 3-1, all those surveyed in the national poll predict that the controversy over her exclusive use of a private email server when she was secretary of State would hurt her prospects in a general election.

The poll of 1,000 likely voters, taken by phone Sept. 24-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The sample of 430 Democrats has an error margin of +/- 5 points.

"I support Hillary Clinton for a lack of any other real option," says William Sather, 41, the technical director for a production company in St. Paul, Minn., who was among those surveyed. "Bernie is swell and all, but I don't quite think he's electable." He worries about Clinton's electability as well. "She's a terrific leader, it's just, I can understand there's a lot of gut-level hatred of her."

Bob Welch, 44, a real-estate appraiser from Boise, Idaho, is "leaning heavily" to Sanders but would support Clinton if he falters. "Bernie, his message, he gets it," Welch said in a follow-up interview. "He understands the problems plaguing this country and why we have an economy with problems, our constant need to be involved in war, spending money in ways it shouldn't be spent. We don't take care of the people that are suffering in this country."

Clinton remains the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, leading Sanders by 18 percentage points and Biden by 21. But her challenges also are clear. In July, for instance, her favorable-unfavorable rating was narrowly negative, at 43%-47%. Now that gap has grown to 12 points, at 39%-51%.

In contrast, Sanders has a 37%-33% favorable-unfavorable rating, and Biden's favorable rating is a healthy 51%-35%.

Asked for a single word that describes each contender, the most frequent response for Clinton was "liar/dishonest," followed by "untrustworthy/fake." For Sanders, the most frequent response was "socialist" and the second most frequent "favorable/good." For Biden, the top response was "favorable/like," followed by "honest/honorable," although the top five answers for him also included "idiot/joke" and "fun/character/goofy."

"He is what Hillary is not, and that is authentic," Sather says of Biden. "He's easy to make fun of ... (but) she's not authentic. She's searching for the right answer instead of having the right answer."

The controversy over her decision to use a private email server instead of the government system when she was secretary of State is hurting her, although more among Republicans than Democrats. Six in 10 of those surveyed say the issue bothers them and even more, 70%, predict it will hurt her in a general election.

Even about one-third of Democrats and two-thirds of independents are disturbed by the controversy, as well as nearly nine in 10 Republicans.

Overall, 52% say they're bothered by how she handled the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, and by the explanation she has given in the aftermath. Nearly six in 10 say that would be a liability in the general election. Clinton is expected to testify in October before the House select committee investigating Benghazi.

"Trust is a huge thing when it comes to politics, (and) she's lost that trust," says Anthony Edelen, 37, a small-business owner from Vermillion, S.D.

But Erika Raney, 32, a business consultant from Los Angeles, says the email controversy is "kind of beating a dead horse" by this point. "I don't think half of the things we think are election issues should be," she says. "It's another way that we sling mud at candidates to detract from actually what they're saying."

One more thing: Democrats aren't particularly interested in watching more debates beyond the half-dozen already sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. The first, hosted by CNN, is scheduled for Oct. 13 in Las Vegas. By 54%-34%, likely Democratic primary voters say six is enough.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/10/01/suffolk-poll-clinton-sanders-biden/73132954/

[Las Vegas]

Thing w Biden could be a defense against Hillary getting busted for something.  That's true, too.

If Bill C. is really and truly "agitated" by the development, it's because he's worried about Hillary going to the slam.

[240 is Back]

Hannity talking nonstop about possibility of AL GORE running.

Repubs would lose their shit, they'd go nuts with the global warming stuff.

[andreisdaman]

Hannity talking nonstop about possibility of AL GORE running.

Repubs would lose their shit, they'd go nuts with the global warming stuff.

That's true...they would absolutely lose their minds....it would be like Obama being elected again

[Dos Equis]

Key Iowa Democrats Rooting For A Joe Biden Presidential Bid
Samantha-Jo Roth
Deep friendships, stronghold territory and a Draft Biden super PAC would help a Biden candidacy.
Samantha-Jo Roth is a multimedia journalist covering the 2016 presidential race in Iowa.
Posted: 10/02/2015

DUBUQUE, Iowa -- The Iowa caucuses ended Joe Biden's presidential ambitions in 2008, but a loyal core of his supporters in the state think 2016 could be different. And now, several key Iowa Democrats are speaking out, urging the vice president to give it a shot again.

"I think it's his time now," state Sen. Tony Bisignano (D), a longtime Biden backer, told The Huffington Post. "I think people are starting to realize that we need to take a look at another candidate. I don't know who better than the vice president."

Bisignano has been a Biden friend and supporter since 1987. It’s a personal relationship that never feels political, he said. In addition to his work as a lawmaker in the state capitol, Bisignano served as a president of a local AFSCME chapter, and could aid in rallying support from labor unions. He said he’s been able to convince other lawmakers to join the Biden movement.

"Joe Biden, if he gets in the race, is the most qualified candidate on both sides," Bisignano said. "His years in Congress, 40 some years in government."

State Rep. Bruce Hunter (D) worked on Biden's Iowa campaign in 2007.  The two have kept in touch, even after Biden dropped out of the race on Jan. 3, 2008, after capturing less than 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses. Hunter and his wife, Betty,  have entertained the Biden family at their home, and they make special visits to the White House to visit the vice president.

"We sat there for 45 minutes and just visited," Hunter said, recalling a trip to D.C. five years ago. "A little bit about politics, but mostly about family."

Hunter said he would support the vice president once again if he decides to jump into the race.

"I've made it very clear with all the campaigns around the state that until Joe makes a decision, I'm not committing to anybody," Hunter said. "If Joe decides to run for president, I'm immediately in his camp."

Hunter argued that vice president's genuine nature would set him apart in the 2016 campaign.

"Once you become friends with Joe Biden, you're always a friend of Joe Biden," Hunter said. "He's the real deal. When you say that's Joe, that’s Joe."

With just four months until the Iowa caucuses, the Draft Biden super PAC is ramping up its ground effort in early primary states and recently hired two longtime backers in Iowa.

"We're gaining momentum every day, supporters continue to come our way," Ellen Goodmann Miller, the super PAC's Iowa state director, said.

Goodmann Miller is one of the super PAC's two paid staff members in the state. Draft Biden launched in April, and has nearly met its fundraising goal of $3 million. Twenty elected officials have signed onto the Draft Biden effort, including Hunter and Bisignano.

"We continue to grow a really large steering committee of leaders from across the state who are going to be willing to step up and organize their counties, be precinct captains," Goodmann Miller said.

Support for Biden has been deeply rooted in Goodmann Miller's family for 30 years. Her mother, Teri, is one of the super PAC’s co-chairs and a longtime advocate. She recently traveled to Washington for the pope’s visit to the White House. Goodmann Miller said her mother had lunch with the vice president during the trip, but walked away still unsure whether Biden would run for president.

Dubuque, the 10th-largest city in Iowa, has been known as a Democratic stronghold. Goodmann Miller, who resides here, said the town is one of the most important for the Democratic caucus, and Democrats typically dominate the area, with an advantage of nearly 10,000 registered voters over Republicans. The county supported Democrats by double-digits in the last five presidential elections. Goodmann Miller added that Dubuque is a city where Biden has already laid valuable groundwork, garnering support even after his presidential ambitions faded.

"Northeastern Iowa is a stronghold for the Bidens, particularly where the Bidens have a lot of close relationships and friendships," Goodmann Miller said. "It's because the Dubuquers and northeastern Iowans share the same values that the Bidens do."

Half the population of Dubuque is Catholic, like Biden. Unlike the rest of Iowa, this area is not dependent on farming, with more of the population employed in construction and manufacturing than in agriculture. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley have targeted voters in this town, also working to gain support from influential local labor unions.

Support for Biden isn’t limited to Dubuque. The vice president earned 14 percent of support in the latest Des Moines Register/ Bloomberg Poll, even though he hasn't declared.

"His likability and trustworthiness are very high," Bisignano said. "I think he's what the Democrats need to win this presidential election."

With the first Democratic debate a little more than a week away, many speculate that the vice president is running out of time. He may face several challenges in developing a ground operation in Iowa, months after his competitors. Hillary Clinton now has 17 offices across the state and 78 paid organizers. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has 15 offices and 60 field organizers.

But Biden loyalists are optimistic.

"I don't think it's too late at all," Hunter said. "It may be too late for a brand-new candidate. Joe is known in the state of Iowa. He's been here quite a bit."

"A great many people are not committed in this race," Bisignano noted. "A lot of them are even soft in their commitment to what candidate they've chosen so far."

After the death of a son to brain cancer, Biden is considering whether he has the emotional energy for another campaign. Bisignano said he can relate to what Biden is going through -- since he lost a son in a car accident 20 years ago -- and believes that the loss could give Biden strength beyond what he thought he had.

"This is a man who has suffered more than anyone should have to suffer in his life of family tragedy and loss and he's carried on and done great things," Bisignano said.

Ultimately, however, Biden's backers said they want the vice president to do what feels best.

"If he decides running for president isn't in the cards this time, I'll respect him for it," Hunter said. "I selfishly hope he does."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iowa-joe-biden_560ea84ae4b0dd85030bb13c?qmwpnwmi

[Dos Equis]

Exploiting a personal tragedy for political gain.  Disgusting. 

Exclusive: Biden himself leaked word of his son's dying wish
The vice president is mourning. He’s also calculating.
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE
10/06/15


AP Photo

Joe Biden has been making his 2016 deliberations all about his late son since August.

Aug. 1, to be exact — the day renowned Hillary Clinton-critic Maureen Dowd published a column that marked a turning point in the presidential speculation.

According to multiple sources, it was Biden himself who talked to her, painting a tragic portrait of a dying son, Beau’s face partially paralyzed, sitting his father down and trying to make him promise to run for president because "the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.”

It was no coincidence that the preliminary pieces around a prospective campaign started moving right after that column. People read Dowd and started reaching out, those around the vice president would say by way of defensive explanation. He was just answering the phone and listening.

But in truth, Biden had effectively placed an ad in The New York Times, asking them to call.

Before that moment and since, Biden has told the Beau story to others. Sometimes details change — the setting, the exact words. The version he gave Dowd delivered the strongest punch to the gut, making the clearest swipe at Clinton by enshrining the idea of a campaign against her in the words of a son so beloved nationally that his advice is now beyond politics. This campaign wouldn’t be about her or her email controversy, the story suggests, but connected to righteousness on some higher plane.

Biden has portrayed his decision about a 2016 run as purely emotional, a question of whether he and has family have the strength. That’s a big part of it. But it’s not all of it.

By every account of those surrounding Biden, Beau is constantly on his father’s mind. But so are Clinton’s poll numbers — and his own, as the vice president notes in private details, such as the crosstab data that show him drawing more support from Clinton than Bernie Sanders. So is the prospect of what it would mean to run against a candidate who would make history as the first female nominee, and potentially first female president. So is knowing that the filing deadlines are quickly closing in and that he almost certainly has to decide in roughly the next week to make even a seat-of-the-pants campaign possible.

“Calculation sort of sounds crass, but I guess that’s what it is,” said one person who’s recently spoken to Biden about the prospect of running. “The head is further down the road than the heart is.”

And that’s how it’s been for a while.

At the end of August, while friends were still worrying aloud that he was in the worst mental state possible to be making this decision, he invited Elizabeth Warren for an unannounced Saturday lunch at the Naval Observatory. According to sources connected with Warren, he raised Clinton’s scheduled appearance at the House Benghazi Committee hearing at the end of October, even hinting that there might be a running-mate opening for the Massachusetts senator.

Biden and Warren were alone that afternoon, and those around them have been particularly secretive about the meeting. Warren’s spokesperson didn’t return requests for comment.

"His bet is that disaffection with Hillary will allow him to peel away some of her donors and operatives,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod, who’s spoken about the race with the vice president, told The Associated Press last week, trying to sum up the approach.

A month later, NBC News had sources saying Jill Biden, who’s been struggling with the decision and had been reported to be torn or even opposed, now wouldn’t stand in the way. Several Biden loyalists said they felt as though she’d been used by the people who’ve been working with the vice president’s overall blessing to add fuel to the speculation.

All of this maneuvering aside, people who are close to the process are surprised at how undetailed and improvisational the planning remains more than two months after Biden trial-ballooned this campaign via Dowd — a known Clinton antagonist, but who also has a history with Biden dating back to her time as one of the most aggressive reporters chasing the plagiarism scandal that ran him out of the 1988 race. (Dowd didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Despite the data and the numerous conversations, Biden’s still not drilling down. Sources close to him agree that he is allowing the passing time to make the decision for him, but they disagree on whether the calendar is driving him to a yes or making it easier to say no.

But parts of the timing have always been clear: Biden was never going to Las Vegas for the first Democratic debate next Tuesday, according to people familiar with the plans. Better to force Clinton to enter the first contest of the primary season with Biden’s potential challenge looming. And if he’s going to run, the second debate’s only a month later — and that one’s in Iowa.

Certainly, Biden’s decision is an emotional one, too. The tears he is shedding are real. He feels an obligation not just to his son — the line in his interview with Stephen Colbert that he believes he’d be letting Beau down “if I didn’t just get up” has become one of the touchstone moments, as people involved describe his deliberations — but to other people, who’ve told him that he’s an inspiration in their own grief.

The first hurdle is whether he and his family are up to the race, and they still haven’t made a final decision, according to people who know.

Those sources say Biden has thought that, perhaps, a presidential campaign is exactly what the family needs to find new purpose and a sense of renewal. And while they’ll all get behind him if he runs, for now his son Hunter remains the main agitator supporting a campaign, according to people who have spoken with Biden and members of his immediate family in recent weeks. Biden’s sister and confidante Valerie Biden Owens and his wife, among others, are hoping it’s a no, those sources say.

Biden is a devout, Mass-every-Sunday Roman Catholic. That Pope Francis came to Washington in the midst of this decision-making process was a fluke, but still deeply meaningful to Biden.

The two didn’t have a full, private meeting, but they spoke. Biden has told people about the way the pope greeted him when he took his family to Joint Base Andrews with President Barack Obama to meet the pontiff’s plane.

“I know your troubles,” Biden says Pope Francis told him. “I’m so sorry.”

Neither of them brought up 2016.

But he has kept talking about it with Obama. Both remain tight-lipped about those conversations.

They’ve got lunch again Tuesday afternoon at the White House.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/joe-biden-beau-2016-214459#ixzz3noAEf53R

[Dos Equis]

Hillary Clinton Readies Oppo-Research to Go to War Against Joe Biden
By Gabriel Sherman     

U.S. Vice President Joseh Biden, left, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton share a laugh during a signing ceremony for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama, signing the first legislation of his presidency, made it easier for U.S. workers to win pay-discrimination lawsuits. Photographer: Mannie Garcia/Bloomberg News
 
If Joe Biden jumps into the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton will be ready to go on the offensive. According to a source close to the Clinton campaign, a team of opposition researchers working on behalf of Clinton is currently digging through Biden’s long record in office to develop attack lines in case the vice-president runs. The research effort started about a month ago and is being conducted by operatives at Correct the Record, the pro-Hillary superpac founded by David Brock, which is coordinating with the Clinton campaign. According to the source, the research has turned up material on Biden’s ties to Wall Street; his reluctance to support the raid that killed Osma bin Laden; and his role in the Anita Hill saga as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The oppo-research project reveals how seriously Clintonworld is taking the prospect of a Biden candidacy. So far, Clinton hasn’t taken any direct shots at Biden herself. But behind the scenes, her loyalists are making moves to blunt Biden's campaign should he run. "Even implicitly his campaign’s argument would be ‘I have integrity and you don’t,'" a Clinton ally said. "If that’s the message, this could be messier than Obama-Clinton '08. At least Obama had the Iraq War vote and could make a case about generational change. This guy" — Biden — "is older than she is and just as conventional."

A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign declined to comment.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/clinton-readies-oppo-research-against-biden.html