Before officially announcing his candidacy for president in 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden reportedly is trying to line up donors to get off to a proper start – something that has not been a strong suit for him, sources say.
"It's a priority," a Biden ally told The Hill. "If you don't have a good second quarter showing that could be problematic."
Biden's 2020 pitch for the Democratic Party is as a centrist, able to campaign in red and blue states, unlike many of the left-leaning Democrats who have already announced their bids for the primary. But without a polarized national following, Biden might be behind others with the donor class.
There is concern Biden is not quite the money raiser required to run a presidential campaign, as the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had raised $10 million in his first week.
"It's never really been his thing, and the truth is, he's never been very good at it," a source told The Hill.
Biden, coming from a small state in Delaware and not carrying a national fundraising cachet, has never needed to raise the kind of money necessary.
"There's been an Obama circle, a Clinton circle, even a Schumer circle but the man has been on the scene for 40 years, and I can't think of a Biden circle, nationally," a Democratic donor told The Hill.
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