Biden Officially Announces Run

[Nitro Express]

cnbc.com
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to open his formidable fundraising network to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign
Brian Schwartz
3-4 minutes



New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has raised millions of dollars during his campaigns over the years, has indicated to associates in recent days that he will be opening his vast and powerful fundraising network exclusively to Joe Biden, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Biden officially launched his campaign Thursday, after months of speculation.

“Andrew is all in for Joe. He is pushing his entire network that way – political and funding,” said a person who has spoken to Cuomo recently. This person declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the conversations.

A top party donor who has spoken to Cuomo advisors told CNBC, “Biden is going to have a formidable fundraising operation through, in part, Cuomo.”

Cuomo’s support could be a game changer for Biden. While the former vice president has consistently led Democratic primary polls, he has been aggressively courting donors in a bid to catch up to an already crowded primary field that has a head start in the fundraising game. New York State Board of Elections data show Cuomo has raked in $100 million in campaign contributions since he first ran for governor in 2010. At least 80 percent of his backers have given him $10,000 or more, records show.

Cuomo’s wealthy donor network spans the country and the business world. Past donors include movie mogul Steven Spielberg, Walmart heiress Alice Walton and hedge fund titan Steve Cohen. Cuomo also has received support from companies such as Cablevision, real estate giant the Durst Organization and Canadian real estate firm Brookfield Asset Management.

A Cuomo representative and Biden’s campaign both declined to comment.

“I think he [Biden] has the best chance of defeating President Trump, which I think is the main goal here,” Cuomo said earlier this week.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is also helping Biden and was slated to host a fundraising event for the former vice president Thursday in Philadelphia.

Biden’s rivals in the Democratic primary already have a quarter of fundraising in the books. Sen. Bernie Sanders led the way with $18 million.

Some are amassing the support of party bundlers. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has at least two dozen Democratic fundraisers for his 2020 campaign, with many of his bundlers formerly being supporters of former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, CNBC first reported. Sen. Kamala Harris reportedly has more than 100 bundlers backing her campaign for president.

The Democratic field has a lot of ground to make up compared with President Donald Trump, however. Trump’s campaign hauled in $30 million during the first quarter.

Trump welcomed Biden to the race Thursday with a snarky tweet that insulted the former vice president’s intelligence and mocked him as “Sleepy Joe.”

Yup. Joe Biden is the anointed one. Bernie does well on the grass roots level but he can't win running as an independent and the Democrat Party will kill him off with the super delegates again. It's a rigged system. Bernie will probably be more popular than Joe but it doesn't matter. The problem you have running as an independent is you can't get on all the ballots without going county to county. It takes a large operation of organized people and lots of money. Each county has its own protocols. It's a nightmare.

[Nitro Express]

So it's the "Grab em by the pussy" guy vs. I fondle everyone guy.

[FORD]

[Nitro Express]

Yup. Biden is the establishment candidate. Unless there is some huge scandal or illness it's going to be a Biden vs Trump race. People who don't like Joe will still pull the handle for him because they hate Trump more. You usually don't vote for someone you usually vote against someone. So Joe will automatically get a lot of votes from people who actually don't like him by default.

[FORD]

[FORD]

[Nickdfresh]

Didn't Bernie's last campaign have a lot of allegations of sexual harassment? Or is he above all reapproach? Wasn't his fault?

[Terry]

If you define yourself as a liberal, there's precious little to be enthused about with Biden's candidacy.

He has been an unapologetic, straight-up corporate centrist his entire career.

He has a bit too much in common with Hillary for my liking. The same inability to give a rousing speech. A general lack of enthusiasm for him outside of the donor class, beltway and mainstream media...you know, with the folks who actually vote on election day. On a personal level, Biden projects a bit more warmth and likability than Hillary was ever able to, so that's something, I suppose. The underlying theme of Biden's campaign thus far appears to be not any grand social Moonshot plans, but a return to stability after Donald Trump. The problem with that is Hillary ran on the same basic theme 3 years ago and lost.

Biden will be able to raise the funds to be competitive on a financial level, but I remember how Hillary outspent Trump roughly 2:1 in 2016, and all that didn't matter in the end.

Clearly, Biden's campaign should in theory be able to avoid the mistakes Hillary's made, but I think 2020 will hinge less on Biden and more on how many less extreme Republican voters in certain states who cast their lot with Trump in 2016 have been disenchanted with Trump to the point where they are going to stay home on Election Day.

[Seshmeister]

You could walk into any bar, mall or prison in the US pick someone at random and 99/100 they would be a better option than Trump.

Take out the prison option and the odds are way better.

[Terry]

Yeah, well, I won't disagree with that in theory.

In terms of the various (often misguided - e.g. "which candidate would I prefer to have a beer with?" - ) rationales behind why people vote for one candidate over another, as of this moment Trump has a better than even chance a year from now the way I see it.

I mean, I haven't even mentioned how Biden has never caught fire as a national candidate when he ran for the presidency in 1988...or 2008.

Trump voters look at their guy as a cause candidate, even if the cause for some Trump voters is nothing more than to give the middle finger to the established order. Biden will never engender the degree of loyalty from those willing to vote for him that Trump got from his supporters. Biden is basically playing the "I'm not Trump" card. It wasn't enough to put Hillary over the top 3 years ago.

[FORD]

Didn't Bernie's last campaign have a lot of allegations of sexual harassment? Or is he above all reapproach? Wasn't his fault?

Well, for one thing the allegations weren't against Bernie himself. Nobody's accusing him of being grabby. As far as anybody expecting him to micro manage low level campaign staffers who might do something stupid when they're drinking after a primary or convention or whatever, that's not realistic. You can set "no tolerance" policies before hand or whatever, but people are ultimately responsible for their own behavior.

[Nickdfresh]

Well, for one thing the allegations weren't against Bernie himself. Nobody's accusing him of being grabby. As far as anybody expecting him to micro manage low level campaign staffers who might do something stupid when they're drinking after a primary or convention or whatever, that's not realistic. You can set "no tolerance" policies before hand or whatever, but people are ultimately responsible for their own behavior.

I know he wasn't personally accused, hell I'd be impressed if that pseudo-"socialist"was still such a randy old bastard. But it does seem a bit troubling, like a bunch of "liberal" young guys that can't get laid and join a campaign and expect chicks to be impressed with them...

[Seshmeister]

In terms of the various (often misguided - e.g. "which candidate would I prefer to have a beer with?" - ) rationales behind why people vote for one candidate over another,

Particularly crazy when it's guys voting for Sarah Palin because of her looks.

Would you choose your surgeon based on how well you think you would get on with them socially?

Also this imaginary beer with GW Bush I could understand but Trump???

Interesting to note both don't trust themselves enough to even be able to have a beer...

[FORD]

[FORD]