Subject: Re: Returns Day
From: "Joshua Alcorn" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Kaufman Ted" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 09:58:06 -0500

Hunter, Ted,

I'm clearly in the minority here. I've shared my thoughts with Alex and
Molly, and took a full day to process the story. I still think it's a
terrible story for Beau. I'm definitely thinking too much about this,
probably weighing it to heavily, and focusing too much on the small group
of people who have influence and care about these things (at the expense of
the much larger pool of voters and supporters). I have heard from you both
before that we shouldn't worry about what the "insiders" are saying. I get
your point. But please hear me out.

First, this line: "But for now, the clear 2016 wild card remains
uncertainty about his candidacy – uncertainty created by Biden himself." I
think one lesson from the midterms is that there's a real sense of voter
depression or apathy or disgust or whatever you want to call it. They just
don't trust politicians. Beau should be above that, as his fav/unfav
numbers show. But the idea that he's hiding something (which I think
Starkey will be fleshing out in a future story) will erode that support.

Second, this line: Biden's public absence has served to spark speculation
about additional Democratic candidates in 2016. Starkey is setting up his
next story - he FOIA'd Beau's public schedule, and will try to make the
case that he's not been in the office or doing his job. Which is bull shit,
but we're on the defensive, clearly.

Third, I'm not comfortable with Tom Gordon being our chief defender. The
guy is a slime ball, and it's only a matter of time before he sticks a
knife in our back. He's setting himself up for a run in 2016 if Beau
doesn't. He is working to associate himself with us, so that if Beau
doesn't run, it appears he's "our guy." The rumors swirling - I know what
you're thinking, just bear with me - are that Beau and Gordon have cut a
deal - Beau pretends he's running and then drops out, throwing his support
to Gordon. I've heard it directly from one person and a handful of others
have told me they've heard the same thing. It's ridiculous, I know. But in
the absence of real information, people tend to think to the extremes. Tom
Gordon defending us only fuels these rumors.

Fourth, fuck Chris Coons.

Finally, there was nothing we could have done to make this article better.
Starkey wouldn't take a comment from me. He wanted Beau. On the phone. On
the record. We've run out of rope with him. He's given us space, but he's
coming in for the kill now. His next article will be really bad for us. At
this point, the best we can do is hope we can work to water these stories
down. But there's only so much watering down we can do.

I grant you that the photos from Returns Day were excellent. And this
article didn't destroy us. I think I'm trying to be the canary in the coal
mine here. There's bad things a coming, and this article plants some of the
seeds. I hurts us with the insiders so easily disparaged, but I really
think those people matter - when it comes to rumors and wild speculation
like this.

On Sun, Nov 9, 2014 at 10:26 AM, Hunter Biden <[email-masked]>
wrote:

> I love CC more and more as time goes on...
>
> RHB
> 202.333.1880
>
> On Nov 9, 2014, at 7:43 AM, [email-masked] wrote:
>
> News Journal article this am was great -- everyone was clear B is running
> (save for the guy at the end not being able to contain his smugness) and
> clearly B's appearance at Returns Day changed the tone.
>
> I can't figure out how to copy/paste it from my phone...
>
> ASM
>
> On Nov 7, 2014, at 1:37 PM, [email-masked] wrote:
>
> Every once in a while something really big happens. For Beau, yesterday
> was one of those days. What actually happened at the event, the reception
> for Beau, the coverage of what happened and the pictures in the Humvee made
> it a very  big deal.
>
> Congratulations to everyone involved.
>
> Sent from Xfinity Connect Mobile App
>
>

-- 

Joshua Alcorn
302/598.1885 (cell