FOR months Elizabeth Warren, a fiery left-wing senator from Massachusetts, has resisted calls from supporters to take on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, in a run for the party candidacy.
Last week it appeared that the former Harvard Law School professor might finally enter the race — but as a potential running mate for Joe Biden, the current vice-president.
Speculation that Biden may decide to seek the Democratic nomination has been given a new twist by suggestions that he and Warren could join forces to take on Clinton. The two reportedly met for several hours last weekend to discuss a possible candidacy strategy.
Pressure on Biden to join the White House race has grown as the Clinton campaign falls into disarray over questions about deleted emails, questionable donations to the family’s charitable foundation and disappointing poll numbers.
Sensing weakness in the Clinton camp, a number of staff members in Barack Obama���s administration have been pushing America’s affable but gaffe-prone deputy to consider a run.
Advertisement
“There is no question there are some people in the White House who don’t like Hillary who are doing this, which I would argue is profoundly unwise and profoundly indiscreet,” said Brent Budowsky, a former Democratic adviser and political commentator for the website The Hill.
Speculation about a possible Biden run was further fuelled by polls last week suggesting he would do better than Clinton against the three Republican frontrunners.
Even the vice-president’s reputation for blunt speaking is no longer necessarily a liability — given the support Donald Trump, the surprise Republican frontrunner, has won with his provocative manner.
Nevertheless, the vice-president told Democratic fundraisers last week he was unsure whether he had the “emotional fuel” to run. His son Beau, who had urged his father to do so, died of brain cancer in May.
Democratic sources say Biden is also wary of being seen to attack Clinton — the first woman to stand a credible chance of becoming president.
Advertisement
The vice-president has often been accused in the past of making sexist remarks, and of allowing his hands to linger a little too long on some of the women he meets in public.
Teaming up with Warren could help Biden — who likes his staff to refer to him as Uncle Joe — to defuse such criticism.
The senator from Massachusetts is not only an ardent feminist but also a critic of Wall Street — making her a folk hero for the left and a hate figure for big business. In spite of a sizeable Facebook petition calling for her to run, Warren ruled herself out of the presidential race some months ago. She remains a power broker in the party, however, with her supporters having drifted towards Bernie Sanders, a campaigning senator from Vermont who sits as an independent.
One version of the plot being circulated among party advisers would see Biden break convention by naming Warren as his running mate at the start of his campaign. He would pledge to run for only one term, grooming Warren as his successor in the process.
The prospect of a Biden-Warren ticket has been seized on by some commentators as an election-winning alternative to Clinton, “the ultimate insider”, and Sanders, the “self-avowed socialist”.
Advertisement
It is far from a done deal, however. Warren and Biden have frequently come to blows over the years. She has accused Biden of refusing to endorse financial reforms because many banks and credit card companies are incorporated in his home state of Delaware, thanks to its favourable tax regime. Biden in turn has called Warren a “demagogue”.
Where the two find common ground is on labour relations and measures to protect American jobs.
One former Clinton adviser nevertheless dismissed the notion as fantasy. Some Warren supporters have complained Biden is part of the same political class as Clinton.
Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, which ran the campaign urging Warren to stand, told the Politico website that Warren’s endorsement for Biden “would have an impact.
“Would it be a strong enough impact to make a candidate get more support among the [party] members? The answer is yes. Is it enough to win the majority? I don’t know.”