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A Joe Biden Presidential Run?

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Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers are inexorably sliding and sliding. This is leading Joe Biden to take a closer look at running for President.

Biden’s Possible Contributors

Mr. Biden has had some discussions with President Obama contributors and his own long time network of donors consisting of trial lawyers, Jewish leaders and Greek Americans. One of these is George Tsunis who helped raise $750,000 for the Obama-Biden ticket and has said he would be there is Biden needed him.

More worrying for Hillary is that some Hillary supporters have said they might switch allegiance if Biden enters the race. One is Tom Daschle, a former Senate leader. Then there is the Draft Biden group that has gone beyond fundraising to hiring staff and field operatives. Biden is likely to portray himself as upholding Obama’s legacy more than Ms. Clinton would.

Poor Clinton Poll Numbers

Beyond possible problems with contributors are the poll numbers. Recent polls in 3 key states, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida showed 60% of the people having an unfavorable view of Hillary and felt that she wasn’t honest and trustworthy. Only 4 in 10 had a favorable view of her.

Timing?

Biden would need to make a decision before the first Democratic debate which is October 13th. He realizes that if she bounces back from the email and other problems she will be hard to beat and it is unlikely that he would enter. But, if she continues to struggle or things get worse, there is a good possibility he would join the race.

Biden has also put out feelers to the gay and lesbian communities since he came out in favor of gay marriage before either President Obama or Hillary Clinton did.

Hillary Crash and Burn?

Some see Hillary Clinton crashing and burning, not only because of the emails but also the funding she and President Clinton have received for speaking engagements. According to an article in the US News and World Report,  a Russian company needed State Department permission to corner the world uranium market. Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a speech by the Russian Investment Bank that was rating the stock of the company buying the uranium.

In addition, of $500 million given to the Clintons’ foundation, only 15% has gone to charities and $300 million has gone to “other expenses”.

A Biden Run Helps Hillary?

Others feel that Biden running would help Ms. Clinton’s campaign. They said she is a terrible front runner but does quite well when she is in the middle of a race. They feel Biden running will force her to run a better, more competitive campaign and hone her for the race against the Republican candidate.

Unsurprisingly, they weren’t sure where Biden would get his support from since Bernie Sanders is exciting the liberals and Obama supporters are mostly backing Hillary Clinton according to this line of thinking.

So, there is obviously a wide range of opinion about a Biden run, but it should be interesting to watch and see what happens.

People’s Feedback on Hillary

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Recently we did an informal survey by driving around with clients of Annapolis Limo Service and their partner taxi service, we asked them what they thought of Hillary Clinton. Not a scientific poll, but it was interesting.

People felt that she had more experience and more pertinent experience than probably anyone else running for President. We did this in Annapolis, MD which is pretty blue, although we did run across some Republicans who couldn’t stand her no matter what her experience is.

She has been a Senator, giving her insight into the Legislative Branch and she has been Secretary of State giving her experience with the Executive Branch. Plus she is a lawyer so she is familiar with the Legislative Branch. The knock on may Senators running for President is that they have never run an organization, but the stint as Secretary of State covers that base. Plus, she has the unusual perspective of seeing a presidency from the inside by being married to the President.

Despite this, people felt that she had a nasty habit of shooting herself in the foot. Of course, the Republicans are frequently looking to help pull the trigger. First, using a private server for her emails. Yes, it was legal at the time, but many people commented that it just didn’t look good. They didn’t feel like it passed the smell test. There may have been a good reason, but so far it hasn’t been disclosed. Probably because the reason is that the Clinton’s seem to have a real desire for secrecy.

People were of the opinion that while the Clinton’s might have a good pulse on public opinion, they were quite blind to how the public would react to some of their personal actions.

There was also Benghazi. However, people weren’t sure how to feel about that one. The Republicans were all for cover up and foul play. Democrats and Independents were mixed and felt they didn’t have enough information about what really went on.

Another example people mentioned of not having antennae up and understanding how something would look was getting a $600 haircut. People were amazed that a section of Bergdorf Goodman in New York was closed off so she could get her hair styled in private without people knowing. But word got out anyway. She is trying to portray herself as fighting for the middle and lower classes but everyone agreed they couldn’t relate to $600 haircuts. They couldn’t relate to it and they felt the average American couldn’t relate to it either.