The former vice president, harmed by his words and his campaign’s failures, has never gotten past the first voting contest before bowing out.
A woman in Ames, Iowa, hangs a campaign sign before Sen. Joe Biden visited the city on Dec. 31, 2007. By Matt Viser Matt Viser National political reporter Email Bio Follow April 29 at 6:00 AM In the final days before the Iowa presidential caucuses in 2008, Joe Biden and his top advisers were still hoping for a third-place finish, or even a close fourth.
It was a rebuke of all that Biden had argued for, that experience mattered more than excitement. And it was his second unsuccessful effort at a presidential run — coming 20 years after he first entered the fray as a promising young senator but then soon backed out of the race amid allegations that he had plagiarized speeches.
But it didn’t last. Campaign infighting led to a variety of slogans and a muddled message. More dispassionate rivals such as Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt gained strength. Biden later regretted dropping out, suggesting to some around him that he should have fought back and stayed in the race. Those regrets may have contributed in recent days to his public reluctance to issue full apologies for his treatment of Anita Hill during the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas or for making women uncomfortable with close contact.
Biden campaigns at Sissi Shattuck’s art studio in Hillsborough, N.H., on May 11, 2007. Twenty years after the first Biden presidential campaign came the second, generously described by those involved in it as haphazard and free-flowing. It was unclear when the launch would occur, or even who would be campaign manager, until the last minute. Biden’s advisers were splintered into Senate staff and campaign staff; they often didn’t communicate with one another.
Biden’s campaign also seemed to care little for the voters it hoped would caucus for him in 2008. Aides would scramble from one event to the next, neglecting to sign up supporters for future contact, some who witnessed it said. He was, according to one high-ranking official on his campaign, overly focused on winning endorsements.
Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talk before the first Democratic debate of the 2008 presidential campaign on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, S.C. Biden, 76, enters the 2020 race in a much different position from before. No longer running as a small-state senator, he carries the gravitas of the vice presidency under the last Democrat to win the White House. He hopes to draw a sharp contrast with a largely unpopular President Trump, who has scrambled the nation’s politics.
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