Joe Biden Plans to Enter the 2020 Race on Thursday. He's Starting With $0.

[brooklynite]

New York Times

The incipient Biden campaign has raced to lock down the party’s biggest donors in recent weeks, pressing the message in private calls that the former vice president’s ability to marshal funds quickly will represent the first major test of his run, according to people who have been contacted. Mr. Biden’s allies have pointed with concern to the $6 million sums that Mr. Sanders and former Representative Beto O’Rourke generated in their campaigns’ first 24 hours as the high bar against which he will be measured.

Unlike those two rivals, Mr. Biden does not have an at-the-ready list of hundreds of thousands of contributors to ply for small donations. He must rely heavily, at least at first, upon an old-fashioned network of money bundlers — political insiders, former ambassadors and business executives who can expedite dozens, if not hundreds, of checks for $2,800 each, the legal maximum an individual can contribute in the primary.

But there is an inherent tension in the pursuit of big money in the current Democratic Party: the more of it that Mr. Biden gobbles up, the greater the risk of a backlash from a liberal base skeptical of the influence of the wealthy on the party. For Mr. Biden, in particular, it threatens to cut against a “Middle-Class Joe” image that is central to his electoral argument and appeal. Mr. Biden will enter the race already facing wariness from some on the left that he is a political and policy moderate with deep ties to moneyed donors and big companies, many of which are incorporated in Delaware, his home state.

Wade Randlett, an early Democratic bundler for Mr. Obama in the San Francisco area who is planning to raise money for Mr. Biden in 2020, predicted that the “overwhelming share” of top Obama fund-raisers would ultimately side with Mr. Biden. “He was an enormously valuable and loyal vice president of the man who we all shed blood, sweat and tears to make president of the United States,” Mr. Randlett said.

[WeekiWater]

1. I'm pretty sure Biden is sitting on a pretty...

Impressive email list of donors. It’s my understanding he is shutting down the Biden Foundation the day he announces. While that won’t be like the email lists Sanders parked and grew at multiple PAC’s or Beto’s from his senate run, it is still a list of known and recent donors.

[brooklynite]

4. Legally, you can't just transfer those...

...you have to pay the foundation market value to acquire them.

[WeekiWater]

5. Which won't be a problem in any way. NT

[Stuart G]

2. To me..it isn't about money...It is about who has the best chance to beat Trump.

That is it, and that is all that matters to me. If, and it is the future, if Trump runs to defend himself as President, who has the best chance to beat him. Keeping in mind one thought. That is many months away and anything can happen. If things stay the same, Biden has the best chance at this moment.
....but.....anything can happen, and often does.

....There is one person who would totally destroy Trump, but the law says he cannot run. you know who, don't you?

[WeekiWater]

3. That would be an amazing campaign. NT

[corbettkroehler]

6. Finally! Everyone Here Can Agree That A Third Obama Term Would Win All 50 States

You're right.

[oasis]

7. Ed Rendell and Terry McCauliffe haven't publicly committed their

support, but I'm sure they're ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work as soon as Joe announces.

[peggysue2]

8. Yes!

McAullife was on the news this morning praising Joe Biden's run and the man himself. Rendell has already signed on as a supporter and will be running a fund raiser from Philly as soon as the announcement is made.

Yeah, they're both on the team.

[oasis]

9. As for big time money donors, bring 'em on in. I don't care.

we're no gonna win this thing trying to soothe the sensitivities of the few who have been indoctrinated into thinking money is a bad thing. Citizen's United is here folks, as long as the GOP is taking full advantage of it, we should also.

[Kahuna7]

10. Yep. The old dawgs are in the hizzouse! nt

[brooklynite]

11. Did you not read the whole article?

“Ed Rendell, the former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, who is helping to put together a Biden fund-raiser later this week,...”

[oasis]

12. No, I didn't click. I saw Gov. Rendell on MSNBC earlier before I posted.

I had no doubt Ed was all in for Biden from his comments, but it wasn't clear to me that the host introduced him as a committed Biden backer.

Thanks for the correction, and the good news.