Last week, when he was in Sarasota, Florida, Joe Biden made some phone calls to prospective voters. In one case, he told an unconvinced voter that once he saw his health insurance rate go down, he would be casting his vote for Biden in 2016. Today, he hinted again that he plans to run for president.
GREENVILLE, Del. — Vice President Joe Biden has cast his vote in the 2012 election, saying “it’s always a kick.”
President Barack Obama’s running mate says it was the eighth time he’s run for election statewide. Asked if he thought it was the last time he’d vote for himself, he told reporters, “No, I don’t think so.”
Two weeks from today, the vice-president will turn 70 years old. But his age doesn’t seem to be deterring him. I don’t think he could beat out Hillary Clinton if she chose to run, but she might not want to run. From what I hear, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to take a shot but is waiting to hear what Hillary wants to do. She just turned 65, but I don’t think age will deter her, either.
We have a deep bench and for that I am thankful.
The GOP has a deep bench too – deep in idiots.
I see it coming down for them to Christie and Ryan. Jeb Bush may run, but I think the Republicans have had their fill of Bushes.
Only if Ryan wins his House seat.
If Christie is able to rehabilitate himself with enough GOP primary voters to run, then Jeb will have no problem competing either. And Huntsman might as well throw his hat in the ring, too, unless Mittens tarnishes the Mormon brand beyond salvage for the next election cycle.
The question is whether the GOP will continue to double down on crazy, or if the rapidly-fading establishment manage to wrest power away from the lunatic fringe and start exerting their power to run viable candidates again. If the latter situation develops, all the aforementioned candidates have a shot, and the door might even open back to people like Charlie Crist.
That would be a tough choice, if both decide to run. I’m also interested in seeing a new face or three appear.
There are a number of people who are seldom discussed that will come to the foreground in a couple of years. I think that Obama turned a page with regard to some of the key arguments and approaches to government. I think some voters don’t want to regress and go back to hearing debates in language and memes from the 70s. I’m also looking forward to some fresh talent.
Joe and Hillary are both starting to show the miles, but I would still take either one of them over anything the Repugs have. And if Cuomo is anything like his father, I’d love to see him take a shot. I really wanted Mario to run back in the day, and was very disappointed when he didn’t.
Andrew is not his father.
So Wikipedia has it wrong?
Andrew Cuomo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrew is to Mario as Evan is to Birch.
Or perhaps Mitt to George?
Ugh.
Oh, you mean he is not like his father. I misread your comment as Mario is not Andrew’s father…
I don’t know that much about Andrew. What I’ve seen has been generally promising though.
I don’t see why anyone would be enthused about a Cuomo run. He’s pretty generic, from what I’ve seen.
No, WORSE than generic, edging uncomfortably close to Evan Bayh territory.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t imagine that Biden would give a serious run if Hillary is in. And I do think Hillary will run. Maybe Joe would run just to give her a little genteel competition, but he has to know he stands no chance against her. I LOVE Joe, but he has no chance against Hillary in a primary. None.
I think he’s just talking for fun.
Ronald Reagan was 69 when he took office and 78 when he left office. That said, I’m not sure how much longer younger voters will vote for this generation of Democrats. I see a very interesting primary season in 2016 with a mixture of a lot of young and old faces.
My guess is that Hillary will not run. It’s hard to tell whether Biden is seriously considering it or just holding out the possibility to keep the momentum of this election going.
The next four years are nonetheless going to be as interesting as the last four. The question is whether 2014 destroys the GOP coalition.
If Hillary doesn’t run, Gillibrand does–and beats even Biden.
I would gladly vote for Biden or Clinton. Andrew Cuomo, not so much.
And now, it’s off to the polls.
The modern presidency is an amazingly grueling job that greatly ages even much younger people.As much as I’ve appreciated Joe as VP, I think 74 is much too old. The only reason the presidency didn’t kill Reagan is that he slept through most of it. Remember also that he developed Alzheimer’s while in office, and it was not fun.
I would rather see a moderate Governor from the south at the top of the ticket.
Just looking at a list of Governors (and not their state’s records or political bone fides), I would start with: Steve Beshear (Kentucky), Bev Purdue (North Carolina), or Brian Schweitzer (Montana).
Montana is not the South. Bev Perdue didn’t run because she got savaged by the budget crisis and by a scandal involving an aide. Beshear has little name recognition, even in the blogosphere.
And there are oodles of “moderate” Democrats outside the South now.
I know that Montana is not in the south, but it’s certainly more “rural” than say the Mid-Atlantic.
As I said, I hadn’t gone through the various candidates point-by-point, so thank you for the information.
How about O’Malley?
I think he’s the one. Would definitely bring the fire…
He was great at our Maine Dems convention and I was sitting in front so I got a good look at him!
Rural does not equal “moderate”
There is a huge divide both culturally and demographically between Rs and Ds.
The likelihood of finding another charismatic candidate, like Obama, that can attract to such a wide coalition is extremely slim. So, instead of putting up a popular ‘northern’ democrat (who the republicans will immediately label as ‘elitist’ or ‘too liberal’, etc…, think John Kerry) then you can counter that by putting forward someone from a more rural area (mid-west) or the south.
I’d like to see someone that most sides can say, ‘yes, that’s our guy/girl’ as opposed to immediately drawing contrasts…and, let’s face it, a lot of that starts with who they are and where they are from.
I’d suggest a Governor over a Senator because of the perceived value of executive experience and the lack of a voting record in Washington.
O’Malley is good, and technically below the Mason-Dixon line, but I think he is too progressive to appeal to any conseratives.
Who knows, maybe its an Independent like Christ. (Imagine the confusion if Charlie Crist ran against Chris Christie!)
Again, I don’t know their backgrounds very well. Just spit ballin’ here….
2016 is a long way away, and the illusion that Democrats need to appeal to conservatives is just that. Who Democrats need to appeal to is independent voters, who ideologically are all over the map and not just “moderates”.
I think the Dems should be done with bending over backwards to cater to the South/rural America. Obama has shown we don’t need them to win, and continuing to act as if those are the real, default American voters delays the day when the whole country recognizes how diverse, multicultural, and multiracial a country this is. Long since past time for the South to realize that they need to petition to rejoin the Union, not the other way around.
Hell yes, THIS!!
We’ve spent way too much time catering to some very stupid people (and no, not all southerners and not all rednecks – this sign is up in Patrick McHenry’s district in the Western Piedmont of North Carolina and has been for weeks).
That said, it’s waaaay past time to pacify the NeoConfederates as to facts – we’re Americans, no less so than anyone else. DEAL WITH IT!
Even beyond whether people in those regions have what we would recognize as a valid grasp of current reality, the fact that Dems are always pressured to reach out, compromise, try to see the opposition’s point of view, etc, etc, when there is no pressure or expectation for the other side to reach back puts us perpetually in a weak position — the hopeful suitors pursuing the haughty maiden. But the strength is on our side, and will be increasingly so as demographics shift. It is not too soon to acknowledge that they should be the suitors seeking our approval, as they inevitably will be before too awfully long. Just look at the purpling of VA and NC, and before another decade passes, of AZ and TX, among others.
I read this over at DailyKos last night, and I think it’s a really great perspective. We shouldn’t try to fight or be forced to always compromise, we should instead try to demonstrate that is the Democratic Party that best understands their positions and that we can relate to them.
Just like many progressives feel that Mitt Romney is out of touch with us, that is the same way that republicans see many of us.
“What liberals and progressives don’t seem to understand is that you don’t counter a myth with a pile of facts and statistics. You have to counter it with a more powerful story. And that’s what Obama and the Democrats have repeatedly failed to do. White Southern men want a story that makes them feel proud of America and what it can accomplish. I’m troubled when I hear lefties heap scorn upon the South, partly because I know that the antagonism is precisely what the Mitt Romneys of the world hope for. They want to divide us and keep those regional antagonisms stoked so that the cynical Southern strategy continues to work. Every time a San Franciscan or a New Yorker rails against “rednecks” in the South, he has done Karl Rove’s work for him.”
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/what-if-liberals-and-progressives-could-learn-talk-white-south
ern-men?paging=off
As much as I love VP Biden as VP, I don’t think he would be the best choice for President or Hilary for that matter. They both are doing awesome jobs in their current role but their age is a factor for me. I think the fights from that generation are over and it’s time to move on.
York County, PA voting machine:
WTF?!?!?!
Please.
Get real.
He’s through.
And Cuomo?
Way too ugly.
His face is frozen into a series of fight or flight grimaces. Bite, run or get bitten.
It’s all American Idol politics now, folks.
If you don’t look like a preznit, you can’t be a preznit.
That comes first.
Please.
AG
If it’s cool to hire a new POTUS from the ranks of senior citizens, why isn’t it cool to raise the age for Social Security to say, seventy-three (the age Hillary would be after one term) or seventy-eight (after Biden does a stint)?
Because if you spend your life as a laborer you will age much more quickly than if you spend your life in Congress–pretty big health and life expectancy disparities depending on what you do for a living.
Does Social Security — regular not disability — discriminate by job category and health of beneficiaries in determining eligibility? A worthy idea, but that’s not how it’s done. But let’s say it were, can we raise the retirement age for everyone with a job no more physically taxing than a lifetime in Congress?
Why are we raising the age of Social Security in the first place? People on Social Security can still work and they still pay payroll taxes when they do and after age 65 can keep full Social Security benefits too. A better idea would be to put Congress on the same pension system a whole lot of the country is on—none. Then watch what happens to Social Security.
Because Simpson-Bowles, the GOP, and DINOs recommend it as a way to cover up the fact that they squandered the Social Security Trust Fund on tax cuts for the wealthy, irrational wars, and an unfunded Medicare giveaway to big Pharma and they aren’t about to give back what they took.
Hasn’t Hillary denied any further presidential ambitions multiple times by now? Why do people keep putting her forth as a candidate? As far as I’m concerned, she has removed herself from the race and we’re not respecting her wishes by continuing to push her candidacy. If she changes her mind, that will be on her.
Well, no. Hillary knows the only way to call off the speculation is to issue a firm clear Sherman statement, which she hasn’t so far.
My guess is she’s unsure now but is inclined not to go through another grueling 18 month campaign — and perhaps Biden has picked up on that. And that Bill is less unsure and really wants her to run.
In any case I suspect Dems will be strongly inclined to want to finally check the Woman box, after Obama and after HRC coming so close in 2008.
Which could mean a fair number of women candidates if H doesn’t run. And it’s always possible in that scenario they could dilute that vote and enable a standard white male pol to slip through, the way in 1976 too many libs crowded each other and allowed the more moderate JC to emerge.
This was hashed out quite a bit in an earlier thread. I stand by what I posted then, FWIW.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/10/7/103720/970#78
She said in October 2011:
Sounds pretty categorical to me. YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
I have tremendous respect for Hillary and Joe. But haven’t the Baby Boomers had their turn? I’m not interested in continuing the battles begun in the sixties. We have a lot of wonderful younger Democrats. Let’s move on. Forward.