Democrats see Biden as wobbly 2020 front-runner

In another election, at another time, the late entry of a well-funded candidate in the polls might send convulsions through the primary field.

Joe Biden's goal in the 2020 race has not had that effect. No Democratic rival appears doomed. No one's fundraising seems in danger of drying up. Instead, in joining the race, the vice-president of the race, the president and president of the United States. , or the demands of a party transformed.

Story Continued Below

"He's been a corporate Democrat for years, and I think the Democratic Party is recognizing that our nominating and moving party is really going to be a challenge to the DC power structure," said Democracy for America Chairman Charles Chamberlain, whose group has supported Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the past.

For Biden, he said, "The wheels are going to come off the cart."

Following a relatively placid start to the primary election, Biden's entrance to the race has had its immediate consequence:

Within hours of Biden's announcement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Was needed for her supportive positions on Wall Street, while she and other Democratic contenders chided her high-dollar fundraising appeals to their own small donor bases.

But the overarching narrative continues to be the primary field lack of definition. Even with Biden in the race, several more prospects – among them, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) And Gov. Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) – are still looking to get in. And while Biden starts from a position in the polls, it's unclear how much of that support will remain adhered to him. Rival campaigns expect it to erode.

TV crews still follow the hordes of candidates running under 10 percent in the polls. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Their own campaigns have time to grow.

The key milepost, nearly every agreeable, is the first official debate in June.

"Between now and the debates, polls are going to be all over the place," said Robert Wolf, a venture capitalist and influential Democratic donor. and advised form President Barack Obama.

Predicting the Democratic field would not be a "true top 5" until the fall, Wolf said, "In 2007-2008 it was really a choice between Obama, Edwards and Clinton. In 2016, it was a choice between Bernie and Hillary … Today, you could argue no one's north of 25 percent, and you know, it does not feel like that many people are picking one [candidate] versus the other. "

Biden's rivals had been expecting his announcement for months. $ 6.3 million in one day – a measure of enthusiasm supporting his persistence status atop public opinion polls.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said "if the polls mean anything, there is a great reservoir of goodwill for him."

"I think Biden, by who he is and what he represents and what he has fought for his entire life, makes a very important contrast to Donald Trump," Weingarten said. "And what is his interest in the race is Democrats is a real choice between someone who has been in the trenches in this fight, including in the White House, for decades."

Indeed, Biden's candidacy appears most immediately to Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, both of whom, like Biden, cast themselves as unified figures in a fractured Democratic primary.

"I think [Biden] "So Colin Strother, a Texas Democratic Strategist Who Hinted at Julian Castro, the train San Antonio mayor running for president.

Yet if Biden's Announcement is Democrats on notice that Biden is "the biggest, baddest guy in this race," Strother said, "I think the frost melts off this pumpkin pretty quickly here."

"He starts off in a really strong position," Strother said. "But when it starts going down to issues, I think it's going to be in big trouble … I think it's going to go down hard and fast."

Despite his initial deductions, Biden must still be able to maintain a high rate of fundraising while relying on a flood of traditional high-dollar fundraisers. He must be able to run a new campaign that appeals, or at least softened, the basis of the Democratic Party.

The first days of Biden 's campaign brought signs of how difficult a task that may be. In a Friday appearance on "The View," Bidding Against Apologize to Anita Hill for how he handled the 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings.

"Said Rebecca Katz, a progressive consultant who advised Cynthia Nixon's run from the left against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "But there seems to be a disconnect between what is the plan and what he will actually say when he's asked the question about Hill.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), A longshot candidate for president, urged Biden on Sunday to apologize to Hill, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Said on NBC's "Meet the Press," "I'm sure it's going to be continued."

For months, most Democrats had been careful to avoid directly criticizing Biden, a beloved figure to a generation of Democrats. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) Went so far to say she adores Biden. "Come on in, the water is warm, Joe," she said.

And even after his announcement, most were cautious to criticize him.

"Congratulations to Vice President Biden," O'Rourke told reporters over the weekend in Las Vegas, when asked about Biden's $ 6.3 million fundraising haul, a surpassed number that O'Rourke's then-record $ 6.1 million mark.

O'Rourke, who is scheduled to hold his first high-dollar fundraiser in New York City next month, has abstained from criticizing any of his Democratic rivals, often praising them effusively. Democrats, he said, are not itching for negativity.

But it is unclear how long such comity can last. Biden's entry into the race immediately resurfaced fissures between the progressive and moderate factions, divisions that had followed the following billionaire train New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg exit from this year earlier this year. Biden is in many respects a symbol of Washington, allowing Democrats to hold him up as an establishment foil.

"They are doing a lot of things in the field, but they have a big fish in the pod," said Mike McCauley, South Carolina strategist and veteran of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Warren – riding new momentum after an energetic CNN town hall and well-received at a forum focused on women of color – jabbed at Biden for his support of Wall Street in bankruptcy disputes.

"I got in that fight because (families) just did not have anyone – and Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies," said Warren in response to a question in Iowa on Thursday.

On Friday, after Biden announced his record 24-hour finance haul – besting the entire field despite starting a thin small-dollar online operation – Warren reads in his email to supporters: "How did Joe Biden raise so much money in one day? Well, it helps us to have a swanky private fundraiser for wealthy donors at the home of the guy who runs Comcast's lobbying shop. "

In a fundraising email, Biden's launch, Sanders' also took a deep breath at Biden's ties, a corporate-world donor: "It's a big day in the Democratic primary and we're hoping to end it strong. Not with a fundraiser in the home of a corporate lobbyist, but with an overwhelming number of individual donations in response to today's news. Contribute before midnight. It would mean A LOT to our campaign. "

Nancy Patton Mills, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, is a member of the Democratic Party, who is a member of the Democratic Party.

"I believe that we are going to have a real, strong honest debate," said Mills, adding that it was pleased to see Biden join the ideologically diverse field of Democratic contenders.

"We're not going to soft-peddle this," she said. "There is going to be a debate on our major issues."

But the DFA's Chamberlain put it, "It's going to be a brutal general election, and Democrats need to be afraid of a brutal primary campaign."

He said, "The only way we're going to get that is if we take the gloves off and actually get in the ring."