Is Joe Biden's vice presidential luster fading, in advance of a possible presidential bid?
The vice president, blaming the partial government shutdown, has
canceled plans to campaign Friday for Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker,
in his race for U.S. Senate.
Though that decision could well stem from concerns about the optics
of hitting the road amid the nasty budget stalemate in Washington, it
follows a report Tuesday morning in Politico.com that claims Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid has demanded Biden be left out of
negotiations over the debt ceiling.
Politico.com reports that Biden,
the one-time deal-maker-in-chief for the Democrats, is steadily being
pushed out of talks and left out of the legislative loop by Reid.
Anonymous sources claimed Biden, who helped design budget pacts with
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the summer of 2011 and on New
Year’s Eve 2013, hasn’t delivered for his own party and that is why he’s
being frozen out.
“None of the deals Biden has struck have aged well from the
perspective of the Democratic Caucus,” one Senate Democratic official
said.
The Biden-Reid backbiting stands out because both men are in the same
party and have worked together for more than two decades. The power
struggle illustrates what some say are increasing divisions in the
Democratic Party.
In December, McConnell went to Biden -- not Reid -- when trying to strike a deal over Bush-era tax rates.
Since the partial government suspension, Biden has spent most of his
time out of the picture. He was sent to Colorado to survey flood damage,
but since then has canceled appearances and campaign fundraisers,
including the one for Booker.
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