Our weekly roundup of the news, notes and chatter about the prospects for the next Democratic presidential race:
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — who holds what was once Hillary Clinton’s seat — just placed herself at the forefront of a Democratic re-evaluation of Bill Clinton’s legacy.
Asked by The New York Times whether Clinton should have resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations during his time in the Oval Office, Gillibrand said, “Yes, I think that is the appropriate response.”
An aide clarified to the newspaper that Gillibrand had meant Clinton would need to resign if his inappropriate relationship with an intern had happened in the current era.
“Things have changed today, and I think under those circumstances there should be a very different reaction,” Gillibrand told the newspaper. “And I think in light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump, and a very different conversation about allegations against him.”
Predictably, Clinton world was furious.
“Over 20 (years) you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite,” tweeted Philippe Reines, a former Hillary Clinton aide. “Interesting strategy for the 2020 primaries. Best of luck.”
The comments from Gillibrand, who has been a leading Senate voice on the issues of sexual assault in the military and on college campuses, put her at the forefront of what could reflect a major shift in how Bill Clinton is ultimately viewed.
It comes in the context of a cultural sea change in attitudes toward sexual harassment and assault, in which women’s credible claims are more often being taken seriously and treated with zero tolerance. It started with film mogul and Democratic mega-donor Harvey Weinstein and moved on to actors Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K., then Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken.
The moment has also opened the door for a re-examination of the sexual assault claims against President Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. That conversation had already started among some progressives, and Gillibrand just put it on the table for the entire party and for the 2020 race.
“It’s going to be a conversation for society and the Democratic Party for months and years to come, I think,” former Barack Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer said on the “Pod Save America” podcast Thursday.
News and notes:
KAINE: ELIMINATE SUPERDELEGATES: The 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, sided with Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and called on the party to eliminate superdelegates. “These positions are given undue influence in the popular nominating contest and make the process less democratic,” Kaine, a superdelegate himself, wrote in a letter this week to Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez. The DNC’s Unity Reform Commission is currently considering proposals to reduce the number of superdelegates.
AN ENDORSEMENT BOOKER WON’T WANT: New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, celebrating the mistrial in his corruption case Wednesday, praised home-state Sen. Cory Booker for backing him and then delivered a 2020 endorsement Booker might not want: “He’s a public servant with an unlimited potential who can easily serve our country in the highest office in the land,” Mendendez said.
— Booker will speak at the Victory Institute’s three-day LGBTQ leadership conference in Washington next month. The event, which more than 500 LGBTQ elected officials and advocates will attend, is December 6-9.
MCAULIFFE TO HELP THE DNC: Outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is hosting the DNC’s year-end fund-raising reception — making him one of the only 2020 prospects willing to raise money for a party organization that has lagged far behind Republicans in fund-raising. It’s also one of the first moves beyond the Virginia governor’s office that McAuliffe will have made after Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s big win there last week. Politico’s Gabriel Debenedetti has more details.
BIDEN ON 2020: ‘WHO KNOWS’: Former Vice President Joe Biden didn’t rule out a 2020 presidential run as he kicked off his book tour this week. “I’m a great respecter of fate … but who knows what the situation is going to be a year and a half from now. I don’t have any idea. I’m in good health now. I’m in good shape, knock on wood, as my mother would say. But I just, I don’t know,” he said on NBC’s “Today.”
— Is Biden too old to run for president? He’s 74 and would be 77 on Election Day 2020, and in his 80s his entire second term, if he wins and is re-elected. The Washington Post’s Paul Kane made an interesting point in a recent chat with CNN’s Chris Cillizza: “The distance from 74 to 86 is big for any human, let alone one that would spend eight years of that span in the toughest job in the world,” Kane said. “I’ve watched, up close, as a number of senators who were incredibly sharp and energetic in their mid-70s turn very slow and plodding by their early 80s. We have to think, as a society, whether we want the leader of the free world to be challenging Father Time.”
— An interesting comment from Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, a 2020 prospect and lock for vice presidential short lists himself, on Biden: “I love Joe Biden; he has been a mentor to me and he is someone I was supporting in the primary before he decided not to run in last year’s election,” Moulton said. “But I am someone who is actively recruiting a new generation of Democratic leaders. I’ve got 12 veterans right now that I have endorsed in key swing districts all across the country who are the kind of inspiring leaders I think we need to take the country forward.”
— Vice’s Eve Peyser throws cold water on the idea Biden could win a Democratic primary, pointing out — among other things — his role in the Anita Hill sexual harassment hearing in 1991, his involvement passing a 1994 crime bill, his anti-populist trade stance and some potentially controversial abortion positions.
The week ahead:
— Friday, November 17 — Joe Biden’s book tour swings through Washington with an 8 p.m. ET event at the Warner Theatre.
— Friday, November 17 — Reps. Tim Ryan of Ohio, John Delaney of Maryland and Grace Meng of New York are the out-of-state headliners at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Kennedy Clinton dinner.
— Sunday, November 19 — Biden holds a book tour event at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee, at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Before you go:
California Rep. Adam Schiff is making a trip to an early-voting state. He’ll speak at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s annual Issues Conference in Columbia on December 8. … Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley launched a new political action committee called Win Back Your State PAC. In an email to supporters, O’Malley wrote that the PAC “will primarily focus on helping state and local Democratic candidates win elections nationwide in 2018 and beyond, while also aiding federal candidates.”