Over the holiday weekend, The New York Times revealed that the normally quiet former vice president, Joe Biden, has been amassing a complex 2020 campaign operation, ready to spring into action as soon as Biden officially announces his candidacy.
Biden has long been at the top of early 2020 polls, measuring Democratic enthusiasm for the 30 or so potential candidates who will vie for the party’s presidential nomination. In a recent poll from USA Today, Biden ranks second, just below “someone new,” who isn’t likely to come along in the next two years. He’s trailed by Bernie Sanders — who is already on the outs with the national Democratic party — and Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democratic Representative who lost to Ted Cruz in the 2018 senate election in that state.
There are concerns, of course. The newly woke Democratic Party would be loathe to admit that their best chance against sitting President Donald Trump is an older white man with a history of moderate leanings, rather than a minority or female candidate who tends toward the progressive end of the spectrum.
Biden also has his drawbacks: age (he’ll be nearly 80 by the time the 2020 election rolls around), his history of gaffes, and a long senate record that includes defending Clarence Thomas from sexual harassment accuser Anita Hill and voting for several of then-President Bill Clinton’s moderate reforms, including the controversial 1994 crime bill — a tough-on-crime measure that had a disproportionate affect on minority communities, and dogged even Hillary Clinton during her 2016 run. – READ MORE