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Former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn on Hillary Clinton's
strengths, Biden's potential 2016 bid - CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-white-house-communications-director-anita-dunn-on-hillary-clintons-strengths-bidens-potential/

Former Obama staffer Anita Dunn on Clinton's strengths, Biden's authenticity

With a new CBS News Battleground tracker poll
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-battleground-tracker-poll-should-joe-biden-run/>
showing Hillary Clinton trailing Bernie Sanders by double digits in Iowa
and New Hampshire, the two earliest voting contests, former top Obama aide
Anita Dunn talked with "CBS News This Morning" about where Clinton might
want to focus her energy.

Dunn, who was the White House communications director, thinks that Clinton
could benefit from the in-person, side-by-side comparisons that will come
up soon, beginning with October's Democratic debate. The key is the work
she's done on her policy proposals, Dunn suggested.

"In the last week you've seen Secretary Clinton going to her strengths.
This speech on Iran
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-iran-deal-is-a-strong-agreement/>,
really policy. She has probably produced more detailed policy proposals in
this campaign than any other candidate, ranging from substance abuse to
college affordability to profit sharing, you know things that really will
make a difference," Dunn said. "And I think that at the end of the day,
that that is the place where she is going to be a strong and effective
candidate."

- Hillary Clinton: Iran deal is a "strong agreement"
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-iran-deal-is-a-strong-agreement/>
- Hillary Clinton talks family, Kanye West 2020 run with Ellen DeGeneres
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-talks-family-kanye-west-2020-run-with-ellen-degeneres/>

In Iowa, 43 percent of Democratic voters support Sanders, while 33 percent
support Clinton, according to the CBS News Battleground Tracker. The gap is
even wider in New Hampshire, with 52 percent supporting Sanders and 30
percent in favor of Clinton.

In South Carolina, another early voting state, Clinton leads the race with
46 percent of Democratic voters, and Sanders has 23 percent. While Vice
President Joe Biden remains undecided on whether he'll run for president,
he received most support for his candidacy in South Carolina, with 48
percent of Democratic voters saying he should run and 25 percent saying he
should not.

In Iowa, both those who favor and oppose Biden's bid tied at 34 percent,
while in New Hampshire, 44 percent said Biden should not run and 31 percent
said he should.

- Battleground Tracker: Should Joe Biden run for president?
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-battleground-tracker-poll-should-joe-biden-run/>
- Joe Biden on 2016 White House bid: "I just don't know
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-2016-joe-biden-on-2016-bid-i-just-dont-know/>

Dunn said the latest CBS News poll on whether Biden should run is a "great
illustrator" of the situation for voters and the vice president alike.

"The poll basically said, 'Hey, you know, it's not clear,'" she said.

What is clear, though, is that Biden will not run for the White House
unless he thinks he's ready. He made that evident in his emotional
interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert"
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vice-president-biden-hints-at-potential-bid-on-late-show-with-colbert/>
where the vice president spoke about the death of his son, Beau, and the
grief that still overwhelms him.

"I don't think any man or woman should run for president unless, number
one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and two, they
can look at folks out there and say I promise you have my whole heart, my
whole soul, my energy, and my passion.

"And, and, I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there. I'm being
completely honest. Nobody has a right in my view to seek that office unless
they are willing to give it 110 percent of who they are," Biden told
Colbert last Thursday.

"I think that the vice president's interview with Stephen Colbert last week
was something almost unique in politics -- a very private conversation. I
think it's fair to say similar to conversations he's been having privately
with his friends and supporters, conducted on national television," said
Dunn, who spoke to Biden a few weeks ago. "I mean, that was Joe Biden that
you saw. There was no artifice there whatsoever. That's how he feels."

So does Dunn think Biden will run?

"I know politicians well enough to know that I don't predict that until
somebody actually stands in front of the camera and says what they're going
to do," she said.

While Bloomberg Politics' John Heilemann reported that the vice president
may be waiting until late October or November to jump into the 2016 race,
Dunn pointed to the upcoming Democratic debate on Oct. 13.

Dunn, for her part, thinks he should run.

"I'm not part of those discussions, but I think that once the debates
begin, it becomes an engage campaign and dialogue begins, and you want to
be part of that dialogue. So to the extent anybody cares about my opinion,
I'd say, 'Go ahead and get in,'" she said.


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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