In Hillary Clinton's wake, Joe Biden visits Iowa
On Sunday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew thousands to her highly anticipated first visit to Iowa after a humbling third-place finish in the 2008 caucuses. Another potential 2016 hopeful follows in her footsteps Wednesday, albeit with far less hype.
Vice President Joe Biden is headed to Des Moines for the kickoff of the "Nuns on the Bus" tour, a group that warns citizens about the growing influence of outside money in politics. But while there was no question Clinton's visit was meant to reintroduce her to the Iowa voters that let her down seven years ago, the nuns are throwing cold water on the idea that this is a political event for Biden.
"There's 2014! That we play the game of presidential politics -- it's like the Olympics. Everybody likes the game: Who's up? Who's in? Who's out? -- that drives me nuts," Simone Campbell, the Catholic nun who is spearheading the tour, told the Des Moines Register Tuesday. "This is not a game. This is our life.
The Register reports that Biden has done little to reactivate his Iowa contacts from his failed 2008 campaign on this trip, or attend events for some of the Democrats running there. In fact, he will be attending just one fundraiser that will benefit multiple candidates.
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And while Clinton - who will not decide on whether she is running until 2015 - reached out to her 2008 network to invite them to come to a photo line before her Sunday event, Biden hasn't done that. In the past, his staff has called to tell his friends in the state about events and arrange private visits with the vice president, the Register reported.
But Mike Gronstal, the Democratic majority leader of the Iowa State Senate, told Reuters that Biden still maintains contacts in the state.
"He certainly has a network in Iowa and he's done a good job with touching base with that network," Gronstal said.
It will still be an uphill road with such lofty expectations for Clinton - not to mention her poll numbers compared to other Democrats who might take a stab at the Democratic nomination.
A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week showed her with a massive 38 point lead in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, securing 53 percent support to Biden's 15 percent.
Biden finished fifth in the 2008 caucuses, and there's little indication he would perform substantially better this time around.
"Anyone you talk to in Democratic politics in Iowa says there's not room" for Biden, CBS News Political Director John Dickerson said Sunday after Clinton's remarks.
"Clearly [Clinton] is of the past, in a sense, but because she's the first woman or would be the first woman nominee of a major party that is future, that sort of speaks to the future in a way. That's obviously never happened before and Joe Biden has nothing like that going for him. He's the past."
Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa, told CBS News after Clinton's event that "right now, there's room for everybody," and argued that the former secretary of state will need an opponent to sharpen her campaign for the general election.
"But I don't know that Biden would have a lot of support here," he said.