David Corn:Four Reasons Why a Biden Run Would Help Sanders

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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/08/4-reasons-why-biden-entering-race-would-help-sanders

(snip)
* Slicing up the pie. The most obvious benefit is a matter of basic math: If Biden is in the hunt, the establishment Democratic vote will be split. That means an outsider will need a lower percentage of the vote to win. If the race is essentially Clinton versus Sanders (assuming for now that Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chaffee don't escape from low-single-digit territory), the winner of a primary contest will have to bag close to 50 percent of the vote. Put in a competitive third candidate—and there's no telling how strong a candidate Biden will be—and the number drops. Within the Sanders camp, his strategists assume that the progressive populist wing of the Democratic electorate that already supports or could potentially support Sanders is about 35 percent. That number is undoubtedly closer to the percentage needed for a win in a contest with Biden than in one without him.

* Hey, look over there. A Biden-Clinton showdown would draw great media attention. It's possible this might make it more difficult for Sanders to obtain extensive press coverage. But he has already demonstrated that his fiery message—free the nation from the grip of the billionaire class—has a viral quality to it. His rise in the polls has been a wildfire that has spread with little media oxygen. If Clinton and Biden are tussling on the main stage, Sanders might have more room for his issues-first campaign. It's true that Biden likely would run as a champion of the average guy and present a campaign with a tinge of populism. But he cannot compete with Sanders' more full-throated us-versus-them message, and as a former senator from Delaware, Biden might have to turn to banks and financial firms for campaign money—which could undermine any attempt on his part to win support from the Sanders (or Elizabeth Warren) side of the party.

*Permission to abandon ship. At the moment, there's only one establishment candidate in the race. (Sanders has not received a single endorsement from a mainstream Democrat, not even from the Democratic senators with whom he serves.) There is nowhere else for most insider and conventional Democrats to go other than Hillaryland. And the Clinton camp does justifiably expect most Democratic players to pledge their allegiance to her campaign. In a Bidenized race, the playing field would get stirred up. There probably would not be a rush of Democratic officials in Washington embracing Sanders. But Clinton's grip on the nomination would likely weaken, and Democrats would have a permission slip to question her candidacy openly—and explore other options. That could result in tangible or intangible benefits for Sanders.

rest at link

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1. Mmmmmm

Food for thought. Crunchy.