With U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., moving up in the polls and memories of her collapse in the 2008 primaries in their minds, Democrats are starting to hedge their bets, looking at alternatives to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Speculation is growing.
Clinton leads Sanders in the polls, but she is losing ground in general election surveys, trailing some of the Republican hopefuls in key states. The other candidates in the Democratic primary -- former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Lincoln Chafee ; former Gov. Martin O’Malley; and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb -- are not gaining ground on Clinton and Sanders.
The national media continue to report that Vice President Joe Biden is leaving the door open to a third try at the White House, calling supporters and gauging his chances of winning the race. Biden’s supporters are targeting South Carolina, which holds its primary after Iowa and New Hampshire go to the polls, as friendly territory for the vice president if he enters the race.
But Biden is not the only former Democratic presidential contender generating 2016 buzz. Toward the end of last week, former Vice President Al Gore, a rival of Biden’s in the 1988 primaries and the party’s nominee in 2000, was contemplating entering the race. Gore’s camp downplayed the talk, telling CNN they did not expect him to make a third presidential bid.
Gore and Biden are not the only long-established Democrats talked up as potential challengers to Clinton. At the end of last week, while reopening the American embassy in Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shot down speculation that he would be active in the 2016 elections. Kerry, the Democratic candidate who came up short against President George W. Bush in 2004, said he could possibly return to domestic politics once his tenure at the State Department ended, but he had no intention of getting involved in the current presidential contest.
Last week Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig announced he was exploring running for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying if he raises $1 million by Labor Day, he's in. By early afternoon Monday, Lessig had brought in almost $371,700. If he enters the race, he promises to make campaign finance and political reforms the centerpiece of his campaign.
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