Beau Biden – The Long Tease
Those of us who were hoping for a big announcement from Beau Biden at last night’s Jefferson Jackson dinner walked away disappointed. The conditions were perfect for an announcement – the party base was there, huge media coverage and a former president spoke. Still, no announcement.
Let’s look at the evidence:
Menendez from the DSCC said that Biden’s running.
Polls show the race with Castle is practically tied.
Biden has done some media interviews, perhaps reluctantly.
Last night, Markell said Biden is running.
Last night, Clinton said Biden is running.
Last night Beau Biden did not say he is running.
Several knowledgeable sources thought Markell and Clinton were getting ahead of themselves and that we wouldn’t hear an announcement until next year.
So, is he or isn’t he running for Senate? What do you think?
Tags: Beau Biden, DE-Sen
All I can say is Mike Castle has made me a huge Beau Biden fan. We need Fire Mike! next year and hopefully the Delaware voters will be the ones to do that.
I had the same reaction everyone else did when Markell spoke — “Was that an announcement?” Turns out it wasn’t. Now, this is just my impression (and I don’t often do impressions), but here’s what I saw. I have to say that I have not seen Beau speak much, so maybe this is always how he talks, but it seemed that there were some thoughtful pauses a few times. Probably all in my head, but I could swear a few times there were openings where he could have made an announcemnet, but didn’t. Could maybe he have been considering it, thinking it would be to a packed house of Clinton-fired-up Democrats hanging on his every word, but then got up there and saw that most people had left. At that point he thinks, “Screw it, I’ll just wait a little and call a press conference.”
I’m sure that’s way off, but that’s what it seemed like at the time.
I really don’t think he would have announced last night — especially since once Bill Clinton spoke, most of the media (especially the camera media) and perhaps 2/3 of the audience left. Not exactly optimal announcement environment. But getting Markell and Clinton talking about a Senate run by Beau in a manner that assumes it will happen certainly keeps his name in the news and people talking about him.
Beau is going to run.
However, last night was pretty somber as these things go.
There were several references to the tragedy at Ft. Hood and the fact that VP Biden was out in Washington state at a memorial service for fallen service members from Afghanistan. Beau alluded to all this several times, including calling for thoughts and prayers for his fellow fallen soldiers and their loved ones. He talked about how family members thought their service people were out of harms way because they were still in the US, and he described the process that military personnel go through before they deploy. He had his fellow soldiers on his mind last night. And, it was the eve of Veterans Day. Beau was dealing with some deep personal thoughts last night.
Clinton reminded us that we are the party of responsibility. We’re the guys America hires to ride in and fix things when they are seriously messed up. And things are seriously messed up. There wasn’t much to cheer about there, except that we are being lead by a smart and serious President. But mostly the message was about taking responsibility and serving. Not exactly the stuff that gets people on their feet cheering. Still, a message that resonated.
Anyway, IMO, the events of the past week made an announcement inappropriate last night.
Yes, and if he stretched it out, he could have filled 30 seconds describing his accomplishments and qualifications for the position.
I personally thought Jack spilled the beans. I think that Beau has a little bit of time left. And Jason – you caught me in my car heading home last night when you called.
anonone and what would Castle’s qualifications be? Lapdog of the National GOP?
Nemski, in my view or in the view of the majority of Delaware voters who have elected Castle over and over again?
Biden should announce when the parade is ready to roll. Castle’s announcement has generated no enthusiasm except in political blogs. I’ve seen one Castle for Senate bumper sticker. Biden’s rollout will not be designed to create such a mild buzz. It will be the political event of the day, perhaps the month. It’s fair to say that an announcement last night would have been greatly overshadowed.
anonone, yes that was the past, but Castle has not had to face a strong candidate in how long? Say what you will, but name recognition plays a big part in politics (for better or worse, ask Mike Protack).
anonone, Castle’s main qualification to most Delaware voters is that they’ve heard of him. Luckily for him, most of those people don’t know or care to know very much about what he does.
Rebecca, that’s exactly what I thought. Nice as it is that we filled the hall, it was NOT a thoughtful person’s time to drop confetti. I think very well of him that he didn’t.
And really, folks. Everyone knew the cameras would go home after President Clinton spoke, so if they’d wanted cameras there, they would just have put Beau on earlier.
I enjoyed all the speakers… although I sure didn’t envy Karen. 😀
Since a birdie told me that one of the candiadtes for AG won’t announce until at least January, I honestly don’t think Beau will announce until then either – just to wrap things up nice and neatly in a package.
Castle has been on a downward trend in his vote tally.
Year – Castle Vote
1992 – 55.4%
1994 – 70.7%
1996 – 69.6%
1998 – 66.4%
2000 – 67.6%
2002 – 72.1%
2004 – 69.1%
2006 – 57.2%
2008 – 61.1%
If you look at ’92 and ’06, Castle’s two most narrowest wins, they were against strong candidates. And his latest run was against one of his weakest opponents which was his third worse showing.
Castle v Biden is no contest. Shit, Castle v Any Viable Democrat is no contest in 2010.
Castle got more ink for speculation as to whether he’d run than he’s gotten since he announced.
No reason for the Beaudhisattva not to do the same.
Plus, and I admit that here’s where I get sucked in by the speculation, is it possible, just possible, that Biden is ambivalent, and that everyone’s praise (a) makes it more difficult for him to say no; and (b) lets him know that everyone’s got his back?
I doubt it, but musings like that keep everyone talking about him. As opposed to say, the term ‘cock-blockers’.
Castle has his own well-liked brand and people vote for him out of habit. The Biden name will help as much as hurt Beau. Does anybody here actually know what kind of Dem Beau is? Is he a DINO like Carper?
Look, I’ll vote for almost any D against Castle – but he is going to be very very hard to beat. Besides, Jason says Castle is going to lose so that makes him lock to win. 🙂
1. Castle voted against the Stimulus (jobs)
2. Castle voted against the Lily Ledbetter Act (wage equality for women)
3. Castle voted for the Stupak-Pitts Amendment (anti-choice)
4. Castle voted against health care reform
5. Castle’s amendment to the GOP health care bill would allow insurance companies to raise your premiums 50% if you don’t participate in a Wellness plan
6. Castle voted for the Iraq war and supported all of Bush’s Iraq War appropriations to the tune of trillions of dollars. He has NO CREDIBILITY on budget issues.
This is Castle’s record, and Biden (or whoever) will need to keep repeating this until people remember it.
January is announcement season. Slow news month, holidays are over. You build momentum. Announcing now kills the momentum through Christmas as people forget.
BEAU IS WISE TO SIT THIS OUT.
1. CASTLE IS ENORMOUSLY POPULAR
2. THERE IS A NATIONAL BACKLASH AGAINST THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
3. THE PUBLIC IS AGAINST HIGHER TAXES AND THE HEALTHCARE PLAN
4. THE MEDIA WILL POUNCE ON BEAU’S LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND ENTITLEMENT
5. LET CASTLE FINISH THESE 4 YRS. AND BEAU CAN WALK IN FOR LIFE IN 2014
Greg – 2 & 3 are absolute BS. I am sure that Beau knows about 1 and 4. And he can do 5 in any case.
Just because you use CAPS doesn’t make you less wrong.
Does anybody know exactly what policies Biden actually supports?
I dispute #1. If he is so popular then why is he in a statistical tie with Biden in the polls? Answer that in lowercase letters, Greg.
#4 may happen, we’ll see. If Democrats are smart they will tie the party of no around Castle’s neck. They can ask – what has Mike Castle accomplished in the last Congress? Saying no isn’t an accomplishment. Plus he can no longer call himself pro-choice since he voted “yes” on Stupak-Pitts.
DD, exactly. Castle is not as popular as he thinks he is if he’s in a tie with an unannounced candidate.
A1, as far as Biden’s views go that’s what a campaign is for.
The fact that nobody here can even begin to describe what Biden’s opinions and positions are on national issues demonstrates what an unknown and unworthy candidate he is. If people here don’t know, you can be sure that the people of Delaware don’t either.
Just watch. An undefined and unbranded candidate is one that can be easily framed by a more experienced and well-known candidate. Castle and the national repubs are going to paint the empty canvas that is Beau Biden as inexperienced, untested, and unknown. He will be the “risky” candidate versus the “known and loved” candidate. And Biden has no record or achievement to counter that narrative.
Since when did Delawareans care about national politics when voting for their own representatives? How do you think Castle can vote however the party wants and still be reelected every two years?
I have met loyal Castle voters, and they don’t know a thing about his voting record. All they know is that he was a good governor and he hasn’t messed up enough to embarrass Delaware enough to make the news.