From Reuters:
“Ex-Vice President Biden launches
2020 presidential campaign”
Former Vice President Joe Biden
formally joined the crowded Democratic presidential contest on Thursday, betting
that his working-class appeal and ties to Barack Obama's presidency will help
him overcome questions about his place in today's increasingly liberal
Democratic Party. He made his announcement in a video posted on Twitter,
declaring, "We are in the battle for the soul of this nation." "If
we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and
fundamentally alter the character of this nation," Biden said. "Who
we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen." Thursday's
announcement marks the unofficial end of the chaotic early phase of the 2020
presidential season. The field now features at least 20 Democrats jockeying for
the chance to take on President Donald Trump next year. Several lesser-known
candidates may still join the race. Biden, a 76-year-old lifelong politician,
becomes an instant front-runner alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is
leading many polls and has proved to be a successful fundraiser . Among
Democrats, Biden has unmatched international and legislative experience, and he
is among the best-known faces in U.S. politics. But the anti-establishment wave
that swept Trump into office has not been kind to either party's statesmen.
Biden's team worries about his fundraising ability and his tendency to commit
gaffes. His centrist approach in a party moving left on major policy debates
raises questions about his appeal. Four years Trump's senior, Biden would be
the oldest person ever elected president should he win. Yet his allies believe
the skeptics will ultimately warm to his strong connections to the Obama years.
Biden has said he would campaign as an "Obama-Biden Democrat," who is
as pragmatic as he is progressive. He's aiming to be a conduit between
working-class white voters and the younger, more diverse voters who backed
Obama in historic numbers. The Republican Party wasted no time seeking to
undercut Biden's record, releasing a video on Wednesday questioning economic
growth under Obama and Biden while resurrecting conservative arguments against
Obama's health care law and a failed investment in green energy company
Solyndra. The video ends with the words, "Joe Biden: Backwards, not
forwards." Yet privately, Trump allies have warned that Biden might be the
biggest re-election threat given the former vice president's potential appeal
among the white working class in the Midwest, the region that gave Trump a path
to the presidency. The Republican video notably does not argue a Biden
candidacy would lead to socialism, as Trump and his backers have said would
happen with many in the large 2020 Democratic presidential field. Biden is
paying special attention to Pennsylvania, a state that swung to Trump in 2016
after voting for Democratic presidential candidates for decades. The former
vice president will be in the state three times within the opening weeks of his
campaign. He'll be in Philadelphia on Thursday evening headlining a fundraiser
at the home of David L. Cohen, executive senior vice president of Comcast.
Biden is aiming to raise $500,000 at the event. He will hold an event in
Pittsburgh on Monday and will return to Philadelphia in the next two weeks for
a major rally. His plans were described by people who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss his schedule and
fundraising goals. With a record that stretches half a century, Biden's
challenges are easy to find. Most recently, he struggled to respond to claims
that he touched 2014 Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores' shoulders
and kissed the back of her head before a fall campaign event. A handful of other
women have made similar claims, though none has alleged sexual misconduct. Biden
initially said he didn't recall the Flores incident but credited her with
coming forward. He took a different approach in a subsequent statement, saying,
"Never did I believe I acted inappropriately." Biden later pledged in
an online video to be "much more mindful" of respecting personal
space but joked two days later that he "had permission" to hug a male
union leader before addressing the group's national conference. The episode
offered a stark reminder of Biden's proclivity to gaffes and his long record in
public office that has never felt the full glare of the spotlight that comes
along with being a presidential front-runner. His first White House bid in 1988
ended after a plagiarism scandal. He dropped out of the 2008 race after earning
less than 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses. Later that year, Obama
named Biden as his running mate. More recently, Biden's willingness to work
with Republicans has caused him political headaches. He was forced to walk back
a comment last month that Vice President Mike Pence is "a decent guy"
after intense blowback from liberal activists upset with Pence's opposition to
gay rights. In recent weeks, Biden also has been repeatedly forced to explain
his 1991 decision, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, to allow Anita Hill
to face difficult questions from an all-male panel about allegations of sexual
harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who later was confirmed
to the high court. Biden has since apologized for his role in the hearing. But
in the #MeToo era, particularly after the contentious confirmation of Supreme
Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the episode remains a significant political
liability. Likewise, Biden once played a key role in anti-crime legislation
that had a disproportionately negative impact on African Americans. And while
several 2020 Democratic contenders have embraced the possibility of reparations
to African Americans for slavery in recent weeks, Biden last month struggled to
explain comments he made as a freshman senator in 1975 about the school busing
debate. Biden's 2020 bid comes four years after he opted against challenging
Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic contest. In a book he wrote about
conversations with his dying son, he opened up about the difficult choice to
sit out the last presidential race: abandon a careerlong quest for the
presidency or lose precious time with a family he'd held together through
tragedy, from his first wife's and his daughter's deaths in a 1972 car accident
to son Beau Biden's 2015 death from cancer. "He was worried that what I'd
worked on my whole life, the things that mattered to me the most since I was a
kid, that I'd walk away," Biden said of his son. Ultimately, the draw to
take on Trump in 2020 was too strong.
^ His campaign slogan should be
"Touching Americans (whether they wanted it or not) for over 70
years." It also gives new meaning to "Hands Across America." ^
https://news.yahoo.com/ex-vice-president-biden-launches-2020-presidential-campaign-100201207--election.html
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