Did Biden Screw Over Democrats In The Senate Race?

Filed in Delaware by on February 3, 2010

Let me say up front, I think the DE-Sen race is wide open and Chris Coons can emerge victorious. However, Joe Biden is now saying Beau Biden’s decision not to run was made around Thanksgiving:

Vice President Joe Biden predicted Tuesday that New Castle County Executive Chris Coons will “surprise the devil out of” election watchers in the contest for Biden’s old Senate seat in Delaware.

Asked on MSNBC whether Beau had bowed out of a Senate campaign because the political terrain was just too unfavorable for Democrats, the vice president said that’s not how things went down: “He basically made that decision at Thanksgiving. It’s a question of how it got rolled out.”

Really? It sure would have been nice for Beau Biden to tell the party that he was leaning against running 2 months ago. The long delay in making the decision sure screwed Chris Coons out of 2 months of fundraising. I don’t think party officials were aware of this decision either since I kept hearing from them that Beau was running. Something is fishy here.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (14)

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  1. Lizard says:

    come on, it’s not like you can believe anything Joe says.

  2. Jason330 says:

    Fuuhhhhhck…

  3. anonone says:

    Oh, Plaeeeze, nothing is fishy about this. They’re doing everything they can to help get their BFF Mikey elected.

  4. Biden told the HIGH DEMs and they rolled out Chris Coons fairly quickly. (I wish they twisted Kaufman’s arm but I don’t think that anyone even tried.) If you followed the Barrish article, Coons had been ‘making the rounds’ in Washington.

    That’s the way it’s done. The DEMs here decide if they want to go with you (Coons has made the rounds in DC before, he’s been testing this water for a few election cycles). He got the requisite approvals and oks from the DEM money committees and now he’s ready for prime time. He is also not going to win.

    But because we are already hearing that ‘he’ll take Wilmington’, I am advising my DEM friends in the Black Caucus to leverage something out of it for the AA’s in the City.

    John Tobin wrote a post last fall that showed how a statewide race needs to carry the city districts.

    The statewide DEM victors have left Wilmington’s voters fallow, however.

    The unemployment for African Americans is said to be up over 20% and higher for young males.

    There are three zip codes in empoverished Wilmington communities that get the greater balance of men and women returning from prison but none of the reentry grants were awarded to black-run service centers in these communities.

    These communities won’t be able to gain any traction until they are empowered and if Coons and the HIGH DEMs of Delaware think that they can take the City, one would hope that they will have to promise substantive changes in the way business is done.

    The last pot of reentry money that Delaware got (under Minner) ended up with half of the federal dollars not being spent on returning inmates. The 900K ended up being divied up by then Criminal Justice Council Chair, John Carney, and a few other people to what can only be described as ‘most favored’ insiders. I spoke with the attorney who chairs the oversight committee about this travesty and he agreed that things would have to change. Just this past spring, the Criminal Justice Council was found to be ‘holding’ another million or so and they were ordered to release it to grant-seekers once Jack Markell found out about it.

    I think the DEMs have pissed away this Senate seat in order for Coons to dry run for another shot down the road. Castle will vote with the lockstep GOPer agenda and Delaware DINOs like Carper will shrug.

  5. Lizard says:

    “HIGH DEMs ”

    ha ha, your all a bunch of dopers!

  6. hey anonny nonny says:

    “John Tobin wrote a post last fall that showed how a statewide race needs to carry the city districts.”

    Coons will get most of Wilmington by the fact that he’s been on the ballot there before and because he’s a Democrat. No problems. Where he needs to make inroads, and quickly, are in Kent and Sussex. Unless O’Donnell bloodies Castle in the primaries and shows enough strength to mount an independent campaign, he’s going to carry those counties by a wide margin.

    The Adamses and Venableses, despite the Ds beside their names, aren’t going to lift two fingers to help Coons out. To win, he’ll need all the Markellites over at the beach, and then some. Unfortunately, I think the overdeveloped, cookie-cutter mess that NCCo has become will work against him in coastal Sussex, where Joan Deaver and her like-minded land-use-reform supporters hold significant sway. He needs to get down south and inspire the hell out of these people, quickly.

    If I could offer a bit of unsolicited strategic advice to his team – get down to Rehoboth, meet with the gay community and emphasize your opposition to DADT. Money will start coming in, and word will spread to the connected D.C. community as well.

  7. anon says:

    money wont help coons. he is a throwaway candidate.

  8. Geezer says:

    “money wont help coons. he is a throwaway candidate”

    Evidence, please.

  9. Geezer says:

    “I wish they twisted Kaufman’s arm but I don’t think that anyone even tried.”

    The vice president said he himself tried. Why do you persist in not believing what the man himself says? He doesn’t want to run — emphasis on the verb. He loves serving, he hates running. What’s not to understand?

    As for your points about the city, Karen Hartley-Nagle carried the city. Carrying the city is pointless. There aren’t enough votes in the city to make any difference, and it’s nearly impossible to motivate voters to go to the polls even in a presidential election year.

    And trying to make inroads downstate is also pointless. People down there dislike CAstle because he’s not conservative enough; Democrats should use that dislike to try to suppress turnout.

    The key to victory is to stomp Castle in New Castle County, where being a Republican instead of a moderate might motivate people to vote Democratic.

  10. John Manifold says:

    Don’t think that Geezer’s point translates into real-world campaign strategy. A campaign does not leave votes on the table. NCC has slightly more than half the voters, which means that half are to be contested in other areas. Wilmington provided Biden with a 5,000-vote margin, essential to beating Boggs. If Coons only beats Castle in the City by Spivack’s 3,000 margin, he loses.

  11. Coons has to make sure that he runs up his margin as much as possible in NCCo. He can’t afford to ignore anywhere really but Coons has to remember that a lot of Castle’s support is coming from Democrats. He has to get them back to his side.

  12. Jason330 says:

    Good point Ui. To have any kindof shot Coons must run a balls out “I’m a democrat!” campagin of the type rarely seen in DE. PLUS he has to do that while going after Castle. I think he can do it. I’m not sure he will do it though.

  13. “The vice president said he himself tried” oh puhlease~!

    So, now you believe every word out of Joe Biden’s mouth Geezer? After knocking him day in and day out in your day job? YA.

    They say what they are told to say in HIGH Politics. And Joe Biden screwed up by setting aside a seat for his kid and now the seat is going to go to the frickin’ GOP. He screwed up and he is running for cover.

    I heard your lame excuse-making for Chris Coons job as county executive today. Looking forward to matching facts in the near future. You are a total patsy!!

    I was repeating what I heard bloggers saying about the city, Geez. And if you havent’ bothered to read John Tobin’s analytical piece, I highly advise you do before shooting off at the hip.

    You may not get that the Black Caucus should be encouraged to make hay out of this opportunity but then, you slammed ACORN last I heard. You were in a pique and you said you didn’t care that they were helping the poor. Changed your tune now? What was that all about?

  14. “a lot of Castle’s support is coming from Democrats” oy that is so true.

    I tried to help Karen Hartley Nagle get some traction in the city and kept running up against people who really liked Castle and ended up voting for him. One friend played basket ball with him back in the day and others just had a loyalty to the name from when he was Governor.

    I used to give him my vote myself. More than once. I don’t think I will be giving either person a vote this November. A vote for Coons is a vote for Paul Clark and no one in NCC wants that.