Those of us who would prefer Joe Biden support the 2020 Democratic candidate than be the 2020 candidate — show of hands — are having a nervous week, at least in the media. New York Times columnist David Leonhardt implored Joe to run, though without endorsing him:
My argument is that nobody — not the candidates, not the pollsters, not us pundits — knows who the best 2020 candidate will be. And Biden is different from the rest. A field with him puts the Democrats in a better position than one without him.
Leonhardt was once Washington Bureau chief, so he’s about as insider-conventional-wisdom as it gets. FWIW, he lists the people he thinks would make up a good competitive field:
I am glad Elizabeth Warren is running. She combines progressive passion with serious policy chops. I’m rooting for Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke, who do seem fresh and exciting, to run. I hope Sherrod Brown and Amy Klobuchar, two populist Midwesterners, run. I hope the uncommonly charismatic Mitch Landrieu does, too. This group, with Biden, is my A-list. And I wouldn’t be shocked to see another candidate do well enough to jump into the A-list.
You’ll notice a name he conspicuously left out, I’m sure.
Match that list against the one Vanity Fair compiled in this piece about where the big Wall Street donors are placing their bets:
The consensus on Wall Street, at least at this moment, seems to be that it’s all going to come down to a battle between Warren, Sanders, Biden, O’Rourke, and either Gillibrand, Booker, or Harris.
More to our point, though, the piece includes a major segment about the good impression Joe Biden is making in some quarters, not just for his long career and loyal support of Obama but for overcoming so much personal tragedy:
“It’s remarkable,” said one senior Wall Street executive. “I mean just when you think about what this guy has been through.” He said he thought Biden might be the perfect antidote to Trump. “Joe Biden probably is the best person for the time which we’re facing. We’re facing a complicated candidate to beat in a general election. We’re facing the need to reach out to blue-collar workers. We need to get back to some sort of semblance of normalcy. I know Joe Biden will surround himself with really smart people. I know he’ll do, quote, the right thing. He’s liberal enough, but he’s not crazy.”