Yet despite the prospect of a primary faceoff, aides and colleagues say their relationship remains relatively warm. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who has known both Democrats for decades.
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“And you watch the crowds that turn up at Martin O’Malley rallies and Bernie Sanders rallies – they’re holding up “Bring back Glass-Steagall” posters”. “But it’s not going to be because he lacks respect or admiration for Hillary Clinton“.
Several top-level Obama aides have left the administration to work for Clinton, including former counselor to the President John Podesta and former Obama Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri.
Joe Biden’s 2016 deliberations, a Bill Clinton comment that might not go over so well at home, Scott Walker’s plan to replace Obamacare, a new GOP power broker is born, and Jeb Bush’s bipartisan ISIS plan – those stories filled our Sunday trip around the “Inside Politics” table.
All these factors explain why South Carolina is at the heart of the vice president’s early-state strategy should he mount a late bid against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. “We should all let the vice president be with his family and make whatever decision he believes is right“.
It was just another sign of Biden’s special ties to the state, where the third contest in the 2016 presidential eliminations will take place next year, and where Biden and his wife Jill retreated last week to consider his path. Over the course of the couple’s Kiawah vacation numerous players in his South Carolina campaign-in-waiting reached out in person, through calls or with messages to him through aides, pledging their support if he decides to get in. Years later, when Hillary Clinton was preparing to enter the Senate, one of her first stops was Biden’s office.
The White House has been heavily invested in Hillary Clinton’s candidacy since long before the current round of speculation about a Biden run.
State Rep. Jerry Gowan, who first met Biden around 1980 when he interned for Hollings, and who co-chaired Biden’s South Carolina campaign in 2008, said for all of the buzz about a Biden run, the vice president has not spoken with him personally about his intentions and that until that happens Gowan assumes nothing.
But they also said support for Clinton was without any great depth and was, in fact, getting thinner in the face of her mounting problems. Democratic lawmakers were eager to accompany the newest political superstar to the State of the Union address.
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At the speech, Clinton sat defiant in a bright red suit – Biden by her side. One top Democratic strategist said she’s “not putting any money” on whether Biden will run, noting that decision will likely come from the Vice President’s gut. Beau Biden was an Iraq veteran. But a decision is expected by the end of the summer, this source said – not the end of August, as some people think of summer, but by September 23.
