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> http://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-biden-supporters-ramp-up-a-campaign-in-waiting-1442186886 <http://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-biden-supporters-ramp-up-a-campaign-in-waiting-1442186886>
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> Joe Biden Supporters Ramp Up a Campaign-in-Waiting
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> ENLARGE
> Vice President Joe Biden greeting the crowd in the annual Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh last week. Photo: Keith Srakocic/Associated Press
>
> By
> Colleen McCain Nelsonand
> Carol E. Lee
> Sept. 13, 2015 7:28 p.m. ET
> Vice President Joe Biden <http://topics.wsj.com/person/B/Joe-Biden/6352>’s aides and supporters have intensified efforts in recent days to create a campaign-in-waiting, developing more detailed plans for staffing, fundraising and organizing as they prepare for a possible 2016 presidential bid.
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> Democratic fundraisers are working to recruit donors and lock down financial commitments. Mr. Biden’s aides are sketching out plans for potential hires in key primary states and considering which of the vice president’s longtime allies would work for a campaign and which would oversee a Biden super PAC.
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> The vice president has said he may not be ready to mount a bid for the White House, and people close to him say they are trying to give him the time and space to make a decision. But in private, Mr. Biden’s advisers and supporters are proceeding as if he soon could be running, underscoring a growing belief that a campaign launch remains a real possibility.
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> James Smith, a South Carolina legislator and a longtime Biden supporter, said the efforts in his state have expanded from securing endorsements to building a “turnkey operation” that could quickly shift to campaign mode.
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> “We’re doing everything we can here to make it an easy ‘yes’ ” for the vice president, Mr. Smith said.
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> With an announcement one way or the other expected in coming weeks, Mr. Biden has been climbing in the polls <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/09/08/no-candidate-yet-joe-biden-surges-in-new-poll-of-democrats/> while support for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been slipping. A recent CNN/ORC poll showed Mrs. Clinton with 37% support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, still well ahead of Mr. Biden, with 20%. But in the past month, Mrs. Clinton is down 10 percentage points, while support for the vice president is up six points.
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> As Mr. Biden weighs his decision, Democratic fundraisers are approaching donors who are eager to see him jump in the race or are disillusioned with Mrs. Clinton. Those loyal to the vice president are poring over the list of fundraisers in President Barack Obama <http://topics.wsj.com/person/O/Barack-Obama/4328>’s campaigns, seeing if they can coax donors to join a potential Biden presidential bid.
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> “I’ve personally reached out to more than 30 top Obama bundlers, and half of them have already committed to raise money for Biden if he runs,” said Jon Cooper, national finance chairman for the Draft Biden 2016 super PAC.
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> James Chanos, a major fundraiser in Mr. Obama’s 2012 re-election bid, said that “if the vice president announces, he will certainly have my support, my full support.”
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> Some fundraisers who have signed on to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign have privately signaled to Mr. Biden’s allies that they would break off and support a Biden candidacy if he were to run, people familiar with their plans said.
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> An analysis of Democratic donors and bundlers in previous elections suggests there is a deep pool of well-heeled donors still casting about for a candidate. Of the roughly 335,000 donors who gave at least $200 to Mr. Obama or the Democratic National Committee during the 2012 and 2014 election cycles, 96% hadn’t yet made a donation in the 2016 race as of the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, according to Crowdpac, a nonpartisan group that analyzes campaign filings.
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> Meantime, Steve Ricchetti, Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, is leading the effort to outline potential staffing and fundraising resources, according to one person familiar with the discussions.
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> Greg Schultz, a senior adviser to Mr. Biden who was the Obama campaign’s Ohio state director in 2012, met last week with Steve Schale, another former Obama campaign operative who is now advising the Draft Biden super PAC. The meeting, at a Peet’s coffee shop near the White House, suggests a desire among Mr. Biden’s supporters to streamline their operations.
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> The vice president’s office declined to comment, as did Mr. Schale. The meeting took place as Draft Biden, which has been working to nudge the vice president into the race, ramps up its hiring in early primary states.
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> Draft Biden has announced a flurry of endorsements, new hires and advisers over the past week. William Pierce, executive director of Draft Biden, said the group is amassing a grass-roots army of supporters, as well as a potentially valuable email list that could help jump-start a Biden campaign.
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> Mr. Biden has laid bare his struggle with this decision, sharing his raw grief over the May death of his son Beau and offering a blunt assessment of his ability to commit to a presidential campaign so soon after.
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> “I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there,” he said on Stephen Colbert’s <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/09/10/grieving-joe-biden-tells-stephen-colbert-he-is-not-ready-to-decide-on-white-house-bid/> late-night CBS talk show Thursday.
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> Voters, though, also have glimpsed what a Biden candidacy could look like, as they recently watched an energized vice president grin and jog and glad-hand his way through a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh.
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> Mr. Biden, who pared down his public schedule after his son’s death, has been decidedly visible during the past couple of weeks as he has traveled more frequently, delivered several speeches and mingled with Democratic donors. The trappings of his job have given the vice president the opportunity to take the measure of his support in the Democratic Party without committing to a campaign.
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> Last week, he mingled with Democratic donors at the vice presidential residence in Washington during an event marking the Jewish new year. This week, Mr. Biden is scheduled to travel to Ohio and Michigan, where he is expected to have political discussions in addition to delivering speeches about the economy and a sexual-assault-prevention campaign, according to person familiar with the plans.
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> Carrying out his official duties while testing the 2016 question also has allowed Mr. Biden to stay above the political fray and experience much of the upside of an anticipated campaign launch without the stresses and scrutiny that would follow an announcement. Polls show support for Mr. Biden growing.
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> Biden allies said that while he hasn’t made a final determination about his political future, they have been encouraged by the recent ramp-up and by signals quietly sent by the vice president’s advisers. Rep. Bruce Hunter, an Iowa legislator, said people close to the vice president have revealed few details about this decision-making process, but they continue to deliver a clear message: “Don’t defect yet,” he said.
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> —Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas contributed to this article.
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> Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com <mailto:colleen.nelson@wsj.com> and Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com <mailto:carol.lee@wsj.com>


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