After Biden lost the Iowa caucuses in 2020, staffers suggested that he refinance his house, new book says

  • Early in the 2020 Democratic nomination process, Joe Biden stumbled in Iowa and New Hampshire.
  • Reporter Jonathan Allen said that Biden staffers suggested that the candidate refinance his home.
  • Biden turned around his campaign by winning South Carolina and performing strongly on Super Tuesday.
  • Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

Early last year, questions were beginning to swirl about President Joe Biden’s longevity in the Democratic nomination process.

As a former vice president, Biden had universal name recognition in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, but he was competing against boldfaced names like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg while also fending off steam from an ascendant Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

After a fourth-place finish in Iowa and a fifth-place result in New Hampshire, the sirens were going off even louder for many in the political world regarding Biden’s candidacy.

During an episode of “The New Abnormal,” a podcast at The Daily Beast, editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast admitted to underestimating Biden’s campaign while speaking with NBC News senior political reporter Jonathan Allen. Allen cowrote the new book “Lucky: How Biden Barely Won the Presidency” with Amie Parnes, a senior correspondent at The Hill.

“I would like to take a minute to talk about being wrong about Biden,” she told Allen.

Allen said the prognosis for Biden’s campaign was so dire that staffers even suggested that he refinance his home to pump additional funds into his campaign after the Iowa loss.

“It’s not the most unheard-of thing for a candidate to do it,” Allen said, but “a presidential candidate doesn’t do that.”

“The subtext of going to him to tell him that it might be time to just wrap up the campaign,” Allen said. “To Joe Biden’s everlasting credit, he believed in himself.”

Biden went on to win the South Carolina Democratic primary in a landslide, anchored by the support of Democratic House Majority Whip Clyburn’s prized endorsement.

In the book, Allen and Parnes detailed the enormous clout that Clyburn possessed in the Palmetto State.

“Biden was desperate to get Clyburn’s endorsement,” they wrote. “Very few endorsements carry weight in modern politics. In South Carolina, though, a perception had built up that Clyburn’s imprimatur meant everything. Voters believed it, the media believed it, and even most political insiders thought there was at least a good helping of truth in it.”

They added: “There was no Black political figure in the history of the state who had more influence with Black voters in South Carolina or across the Deep South.”

The South Carolina victory brought Biden’s candidacy back to life, translating to a slew of Super Tuesday wins, including unexpected victories in states like Massachusetts and Texas.

Loading Something is loading.

More:

Joe Biden
Democrats
Jim Clyburn
South Carolina

Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.

Read More

Spread the love
Nicholas ‘Nick’ Statman entered the property industry in 2001 and set up a property buying company that quickly established itself as one of the biggest in the sector. During this time the Company successfully transacted on thousands of residential properties across the UK. Nicholas Statman was an early pioneer of the ‘quick sale’ niche market which has since grown considerably with a multitude of companies now operating in the sector. Nicholas Statman has strategically built a sizeable residential and commercial property portfolio with a view to holding for optimum capital growth and a long term passive income. Nicholas Statman has been involved in almost every aspect of the property sector over a 20 year period – this includes buying and selling, development, letting and management and is now involved in the fast growing online/ hybrid Estate Agent industry.

Latest articles

Trump laughs as supporter yells that Harris ‘worked on...

Throughout his campaign, Trump and his allies have made misogynistic attacks against Ms Harris...

Fire breaks out in Kyiv after Russian air attack,...

The district set ablaze was a busy area with universities, restaurants and tourist attractions...

Musk pouring money into US swing states, but will...

The billionaire has contributed US$130 million (S$172 million) towards Donald Trump's US presidential campaign...

Germany’s upstart leftists chip at pro-Ukraine consensus

BERLIN - Germany's new leftist populist party aims to exact a high price from mainstream parties for helping them govern three eastern states: demanding that their regional officials join calls to stop arming Ukraine...

Similar articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Subscribe to our newsletter

Spread the love