Former Vice President Joe Biden has announced his 2020 bid.

A still from Joe Biden's announcement video. Reuters. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden has officially announced that he is running for president as a Democrat in 2020. Reuters. Biden has been polling in first place or just behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on top of a huge 20 person field. Biden hasn't offered up a policy plan as of yet but he is championing controversial progressive ideas like global warming, gun bans and free public college. However Biden's start has been marred by several issues, the biggest was a #MeToo scandal where he was accused by multiple women of inappropriate touching. Biden is popular among the establishment of the Democratic Party but may find it difficult to gather support from the economic and social justice wings of the party. 

Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2019

My Comment:
As expected Joe Biden has thrown his hat into the ring. I'm not a fan of the man, but I do like him better than some of the other candidates, which is damning by faint praise. All I can say about him is that he isn't as radical and racist as many of the other people running for the 2020 Democratic race. If he were somehow to become president I think he'd do a horrible job but I think the country would probably survive in some kind of fashion. Along with Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard, he's among the "better" choices for the Democrats. 

I'm not sure what Biden's chances are. His biggest advantage is that he's got the support of the establishment. He's the symbol of the more traditional Democratic Party and will likely have the support of their corporate donors. He's likely going to be the one who the party rallies around and props up. And knowing how the party lied, cheated and stole to give Hillary Clinton the candidacy in 2016, that could be a huge asset to Biden.

Biden also has an advantage in the general election by being more of a centrist. Though I would never describe Biden as a "centrist", compared to others in the party he is a lot closer to the center than many of the rest. Compared to someone like Kamala Harris, Eric Swalwell or even Bernie Sanders, he's a lot closer to the mainstream.

However, Biden has some very serious problems when it comes to electability. Most critically, he got hit with a #MeToo scandal just days before he was set to announce his candidacy. Many women came forward and accused him of touching, smelling and kissing without permission. There is also a large number of videos of him doing the same thing to many women and girls.

I personally thought the main allegations against Biden to be a joke. Biden's clearly creepy but nothing he was accused of has risen to the standards of criminal behavior. If he was doing this in a normal work environment he might have been called into HR, but that's about it. It's still a problem though as the Democratic Party has gone all in on the #MeToo bandwagon and even totally consensual behavior, which this was not, is not within their standards. And Biden is going to be watched like a hawk throughout the election season and if he slips up even once he could be screwed.

However, the videos I have seen doing similar things to young children is a bigger problem. Nobody wants to see a man in his 70's trying to touch and kiss small children. If/when one of those children decides to come forward it could be the end of Biden's campaign.

Biden also has a major problem in that he only appeals to the establishment. The other two factions of the Democratic Party, the economic leftists and the social justice "woke" faction, want nothing to do with him. Biden isn't anywhere radical enough for the economic leftists who want more social programs and free stuff. And the woke leftists are too racist to ever vote for an old straight white male.

I don't think Biden can beat President Trump. Trump's got huge lead due to a great economy, how awful Democrats have been lately and the natural advantage of incumbency. With the Mueller report being a dud and the Democrats looking utterly insane trying to impeach him for literally nothing, Biden will have a major uphill battle to beat him. Trump will also have a ton of ammo to use against him in the debates with Biden being a poor debater in general. I don't think he can win, but he probably has a better chance than most of the other Democrats running.