Subject: Joe Biden 2016: Big donors being courted by advisers - POLITICO
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:43:36 -0400

> http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/joe-biden-2016-fundraising-big-donors-121728.html?hp=t4_r <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/joe-biden-2016-fundraising-big-donors-121728.html?hp=t4_r>
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> Biden's advisers courting big donors
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> As Joe Biden continues to weigh a third presidential bid, a cadre of close advisers is trying to lay the groundwork to overcome his biggest potential weakness: fundraising.
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> Wooing mega-donors has never been the vice president’s strong suit, and he’s already months behind Hillary Clinton, who has a lock on the vast majority of top Democratic bundlers and fundraising operatives needed to mount a credible bid.
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> Biden’s inner circle is aware of the size of the challenge and is working aggressively behind the scenes to line up big donors even before he formally makes a decision on whether to enter the race.
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> Larry Rasky, a longtime Biden adviser and press secretary for his 1988 presidential bid, is taking the temperature of donors — some of whom have already cut checks to Clinton — about opening their wallets to support Biden. At the same time, Josh Alcorn, a former senior adviser to Biden’s eldest son, the late Beau Biden, is huddling with donors across the country for the Draft Biden super PAC and making the case <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/draft-biden-group-pro-joe-memo-dnc-members-121682.html> for Biden to Democratic National Committee members. The two camps are keeping their efforts largely separate, with Rasky and others who would be on the official campaign side talking with bundlers, operatives and others more generally about their interest in a Biden campaign. Alcorn is focused more on mega-donors who can cut five-, six- or even seven-figure checks.
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> In probably the most serious sign that Biden might jump into the race, he’s set to meet <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/24/top-democratic-fundraisers-invited-to-meet-with-joe-biden-at-naval-observatory/> with Democratic fundraisers over Labor Day weekend.
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> So far, the Biden cash strategy isn’t about matching Clinton’s massive campaign war chest. Clinton raised <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/hillary-clinton-campaign-fundraising-first-quarter-119636.html> more than $45 million during the first quarter of her campaign, and the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA hauled in nearly $16 million during the first half of the year.
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> Potential Biden donors have been told that the immediate goal is to raise around $2.5 million to $3 million before Biden makes an announcement, which is expected by the end of the summer.
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> “We’re well on our way,” Alcorn said in an interview Tuesday. “The response from the supporters and the Biden donors and Obama-Biden donors and bundlers has been tremendous. … I’m certainly talking with a lot of receptive people.”
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> Alcorn has been engaged in one-on-one and small-group meetings in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Washington.
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> Several veteran donors and bundlers from President Barack Obama’s campaigns cautioned that anybody getting into the race at this time would have a hard time raising money and that the challenge would be even greater for Biden, who raised just $11.3 million in 2007, which was far below the $20 million he projected he would raise for the early primary states.
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> “It will not be easy. It’s late, and a lot of the best people to help in that effort are already spoken for — both staff and volunteers,” said David Jacobsen, who served as Obama’s deputy finance director in 2008 and later served as U.S. ambassador to Canada. “It’s not a question of will he raise as much money as Hillary will raise, because that’s not going to happen. The question is will he raise enough money so that he can put together an organization so he can get his message out.”
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> While representatives for Draft Biden have been meeting with major Democratic donors who have the capacity to write six- and seven-figure checks, the group has mostly sought donations of $20,000 to $30,000, according to sources familiar with the fundraising effort. The strategy is similar to Ready for Hillary super PAC, which voluntarily capped <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/ready-for-hillary-mail-fundraising-104395.html> donor contributions at $25,000. The ask is also one that longtime Democratic donors are familiar with because it is similar to the party committees’ contribution limits.
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> Even Tim Gill and Scott Miller — married gay-rights activists who have donated millions of dollars over the years to liberal causes and candidates — were asked for checks in that range, according to sources.
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> Miller is on the board of Correct the Record, a PAC backing Hillary Clinton, and he and Gill each donated $25,000 to another PAC that laid the groundwork for Clinton’s presidential campaign, then called Ready for Hillary. They’ve told people they intend to give about as much to the Draft Biden super PAC, though it’s not clear whether they’d switch their allegiances.
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> Guy Saperstein, a San Francisco lawyer and part owner of the Oakland A’s, said he has talked to half a dozen people about a Biden run and nobody he’s discussed it with thinks it would be a bad idea. He said he would put some money toward a Biden 2016 bid, but hadn’t decided at what level.
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> “I think the Democrats need more of a conversation,” said Saperstein, who helped fund a super PAC to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president and pledged $1 million to the Massachusetts Democrat if she would enter the race. “The Democrats need a more robust conversation on their side about their ideas. Joe might be able to provide it. He couldn’t make it any worse.”
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> Several Biden allies said that they have received positive reactions in early conversations with donors and bundlers about the vice president making a 2016 run, but few want to get out ahead of an official Biden announcement. In part, the calculation of experienced donors to wait is because they don’t want to contribute to the super PAC if Biden ultimately doesn’t run.
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> “I will support him — write a check and raise money — if he announces,” said Jim Chanos, veteran Democratic bundler and founder of the hedge fund Kynikos Associates.
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> It’s unclear whether these early conversations will be enough for Biden.
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> This isn’t the first time Biden allies have tried <http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/joe-biden-fundraising-93771.html> to get the vice president to ramp up his fundraising apparatus. Several advisers pushed him to launch a leadership PAC in 2013 to help spread the wealth among his fellow Democrats down ticket and also earn chits for a 2016 primary. While Biden certainly campaigned and fundraised during the midterm election cycle, he ultimately opted against launching his own fundraising operation.
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> Biden struggled in 2007 to compete against Clinton and Obama on the fundraising circuit. After raising $11.3 million in 2007, Biden raised just $3.2 million during the last three months of his campaign.
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> Biden’s fundraising problems at the national level in part stem from the fact that his home state of Delaware isn’t a political money power center. The state also is a relatively cheap media market, so Biden didn’t need to raise the kinds of money that some of his former colleagues do to run TV ads.
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> But Biden allies say that from the perch of the vice president much of the struggle to raise money would be alleviated. Also, in the era of super PACs, convincing a handful of donors to write checks could help jump-start his campaign.
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> Still, not all donors are enamored with a Biden run.
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> Several liberals who wanted Warren to run believe <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/elizabeth-warren-backers-lukewarm-joe-biden-2016-121688.html?hp=r4_4> that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has filled the progressive void in the race.
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> And while Clinton has struggled on the campaign trail to defuse the private email server controversy, many Democratic donors say their support is unwavering.
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> “I have noticed an increase in fundraising activity for Secretary Clinton in the midst of all the Biden speculation,” said Bruce Thompson, an influential North Carolina-based fundraiser and donor to the Clinton campaign. “Folks are showing their support to the campaign.”
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> Amber Mostyn, a Texas-based Democratic donor who helped fund Priorities USA during the 2012 campaign, said it’s not a question of liking or not liking Biden.
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> “I’ve met the vice president. I really do just love his personality,” she said. Still, Mostyn said Clinton’s record on women and girls’ initiatives is one of the key issues that she is focused on.
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> “I don’t feel that what’s going on makes me nervous about the Clinton campaign and makes me want to see another option. I’m perfectly happy with her.”
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> Ken Vogel and Gabriel Debenedetti contributed to this report.
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Eric D. Schwerin
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