August has become The Joe Biden Season — at least in the media. With Hillary Clinton faltering, news outlets have begun ramping up their coverage of the Vice President as a suddenly rational alternative to the coronation everyone has expected from the Democrats until recently. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence that Bidenmania extends much further than the political commentariat, however. National Journal’s Sarah Mimms and Alex Brown checked in with Biden’s former colleagues in the Senate Democratic caucus, who are underwhelmed by the prospect of Biden 2016:
“I love Joe!” was the refrain on Capitol Hill Monday amid speculation about his potential 2016 presidential campaign, as Biden’s former colleagues were chased down hallways and into elevators and asked about the vice president’s future.
But pressed on whether Biden should actually jump into the race, a dozen Democratic members said that it would be a personal decision for the vice president, and left it at that.
The lack of Senate enthusiasm is notable. Biden served 36 years there, and his deep friendships and longtime alliances on Capitol Hill have made him the White House’s most effective envoy to Congress. So if a Biden bid were imminent, it’s likely he would be consulting with at least a few of his old friends.
Sen. Edward Markey, who has yet to endorse in the 2016 contest, became visibly flustered on Monday when asked whether Biden should enter the race, as he rushed between phone calls to a vote on the Senate floor. “I—I can’t—I can’t. I’ve just gotta go vote,” Markey said, getting into an elevator.
Sen. Bill Nelson paused for several seconds when asked whether Biden should enter the presidential fray, finally saying: “I have talked to him and I think I’ll keep that conversation private.” Pressed on whether they’d discussed the presidential race, Nelson said the conversation had been about “personal things, like family.”
In fact, Bidenmania hasn’t even touched the Bidens themselves. Joe Biden’s sister and political confidante Valerie Biden Owens told The News Journal that they haven’t even discussed the possibility:
Vice President Joe Biden’s sister, who also is his longtime political adviser, said she has not spoken with her brother about plans to run for president, raising more questions about how seriously he is considering a 2016 campaign.
Valerie Biden Owens on Monday said the Biden family has not been “gathering around to decide whether [Joe] will run for president. He’ll decide when he decides,” said Owens, who helped lead Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign. “I have not had a single conversation with him about it.” …
Margaret Aitken, who worked as his press secretary for a decade in the U.S. Senate, said she has not discussed a 2016 campaign with the vice president. But, Aitken said, “My gut feeling is that he will run.”
Really? Er, when would he decide to do so? It’s the August before the primaries, less than five months away from the Iowa caucuses, and Biden hasn’t even started discussing it with his family and advisers. His former Senate colleagues aren’t starting a Draft Biden movement any time soon. No donor bases are being activated. If he’s running, shouldn’t those tasks already be in motion?
The Biden 2016 impulse isn’t a serious option for Democrats. Instead, as I write for The Week, it’s a measure of their desperation. And that applies not just to this cycle, too:
Tellingly, no one else’s name comes up in these if-not-Hillary-then-who scenarios. Bernie Sanders has caught the imagination of the progressive left, including an endorsement from co-founder of Vermont’s own Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, but few seriously believe that the 73-year-old self-proclaimed socialist would find any other constituency in a general election. Sanders has seized the constituency of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who hesitated too long. Martin O’Malley shot himself in the foot with African-American activists at Netroots Nation last month, and even Sanders had trouble dealing with the grassroots at the event. Neither Jim Webb nor Lincoln Chafee has put together any kind of organization. And overall, this roster of Democratic possibilities shows less diversity in age and ethnicity than the range of possibilities on the GOP ticket.
Look beyond this list, however, and there are few alternatives for Democrats. Many have wagged their fingers at Democrats for investing too much in the Clintons, but where else could they have looked? In three straight election cycles, Democrats have taken body blows at the state and local level, with their share of state legislative seats at its lowest point since Herbert Hoover was president. Their gubernatorial ranks have been thinned as well, as a moment’s thought will attest. Republicans have a number of two-term governors vying for the nomination, and a number still on the bench — names like Susana Martinez, Nikki Haley, Rick Snyder, Mike Pence, and others. Democrats have no ready bench players in position to step up for a national campaign, even if the Clintons’ grasp on the donor class didn’t preclude it.
That should be real cause for desperation — because it isn’t just about this cycle. If Democrats lose the White House in 2016, they have no one ready for 2020. Can you honestly name a Democratic senator or governor who would give a President Rubio or President Walker or President Bush 3.0 a real run for his money in 2020?
It’s not that they love Joe Biden. It’s just that, if Hillary implodes …
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