As the Democratic primary field narrows down to two candidates, rumors are flying that Hillary Clinton will enter the race if Joe Biden fails to convince Democratic leaders he can defeat Donald Trump.
As we predicted last year, a Biden failure will set the stage nicely for a last-minute entry into the race by Hillary (and we know she will jump at the chance to challenge Trump again).
Biden’s recent jump in popularity was sudden and unexpected. Just a few weeks ago, I was convinced Pete Buttigieg or Michael Bloomberg would be the one to challenge Bernie Sanders. But after winning South Carolina and 10 Super Tuesday states, Biden is solidly in the lead to win the Democratic nomination. And you can bet the DNC had something to do with Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s decisions to drop out and endorse Biden right before Super Tuesday.
And then there’s Michael Bloomberg, who dropped out of the race after a dismal performance on Super Tuesday. Bloomberg endorsed Biden and pledged to use his vast resources to help the former vice president defeat Trump.
Joe Biden is not invincible. There are lots of voters out there questioning his mental fitness and his behavior towards women – not to mention all the Democrats who promised they wouldn’t vote for an old, white man.
As noted by New York Post contributor Michael Goodwin, questions about Biden’s capability to serve as president cannot be avoided and will force the DNC to consider other options.
“Otherwise, Sanders would get the crown, and I don’t believe Dem leaders will let that happen. They realize he would be an Electoral College disaster and cost them their gravy train of power, patronage, and donors,” writes Goodwin.
“All the supposed moderates…were thoroughly rejected by primary voters. The prickly Warren finished third in her home state. All of which leaves Clinton as the best backup plan.”
Surely it’s no coincidence that “Hillary,” a four-part Hulu documentary about her 2016 presidential campaign, was released last weekend.
“It couldn’t have come out a better time,” said Hillary, noting that all female candidates have either failed or dropped out.
As CNN host Fareed Zakaria noted during a recent interview with Hillary, the most-searched article on the Internet on March 3rd (Super Tuesday) was about Hillary’s emails.
Speaking to Mr. Zakaria, Clinton noted the parallels between Biden’s 2020 campaign and her 2016 campaign.
“He is building the kind of coalition that I had,” she said. “I finished, you know, most of the work I needed to do for the nomination on Super Tuesday and then it kind of lingered on. And I think Joe is on track to do exactly the same thing: putting together a coalition of voters who are energized.”
Hillary added that she would support Sanders if he became the nominee, but believes Biden would be a better choice.