Tag: Tom Carper

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is under pressure from Democratic donors and others to make up his mind about a 2020 presidential run by the end of January. Rick Bowmer/Associated Press WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is in the final stages of deciding whether to run for president and has told allies he is skeptical the other Democrats eyeing the White House can defeat President Trump, an assessment that foreshadows a clash between the veteran Washington insider and the more liberal and fresh-faced contenders for the party’s 2020 nomination. Nominating a white man may also roil some Democrats who are already torn about whether a woman could win in 2020 after Hillary Clinton’s loss. The 76-year-old former vice president, who leads the field in initial national and Iowa polls, has not yet told his allies that he has decided to run. The former vice president told a senior Democratic official last week that he is both likely to run and that his aides have told him he must move quickly in this primary, according to two Democrats briefed on the conversation. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts entered the Democratic primary race last week, and several other women are considering a 2020 run as well. Mr. Smith, a state legislator and friend of Mr. Biden, said the former vice president could count on an enthusiastic reception in South Carolina if he were to run. Yet the preferences of the party’s donor class and an ability to work in a bipartisan fashion are hardly alluring to the party’s increasingly liberal grass-roots activists and voters. Should he run, Mr. Biden would quite likely face multiple major black candidates and no fewer than three prominent women. After the Democratic base elevated diversity to a first priority in the midterm elections, Mr. Biden would have little to offer voters determined to change the face of the presidency.

(AP) — This week's midterm elections spawned bitter rancor across the nation, as Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats continue sniping at each other in Washington and candidates from Georgia to Arizona are now fighting in court over races that were to be settled Tuesday. But on Thursday in the tiny southern Delaware hamlet of Georgetown, the electoral winners and losers shook hands and embraced one another in a show of goodwill known as Return Day, with nary a frown on any face. It's a time-honored, post-campaign ritual to settle their partisan differences, at least for the moment, a temporary healing that participants say might offer a useful example for the entire country. On Return Day, Sussex County residents traditionally "return" to their county seat to hear local election results, as they first did more than 200 years ago. "What we need is enlightened leadership, compassionate leadership, leaders who believe in the Golden Rule, treat other people the way we want to be treated," said Carper, who walked the Return Day parade route with his, wife, Martha, with a smiling Arlett close behind. That's because he was only reading results for Sussex County, a Republican stronghold in a deeply blue state. On Return Day, balloting in Delaware's two other counties is ignored. "Why only Sussex? Because down here, that's all that matters," Lawson explained to newcomers in the crowd. But more than anything, Return Day is about having a good time.

The Story: A much-watched primary in Delaware last week (Thursday) was a contest within the Democratic Party over who should receive that party's nomination for...