Tipsheet

Biden Emerges from the Bunker to Make Key VP Announcement

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 28, 2020 4:25 PM

Well, the time has come, folks. The veepstakes for the 2020 election will be announced next week after former Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference and actually answered softball questions from the media. the former VP said that the first week in August will be when he unveils his pick (via Axios):

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he'll announce his running mate "the first week in August."

[…]

Where it stands: Biden has pledged to name a woman as his running mate, and last week told MSNBC that among the finalists are "four black women."

His team has been vetting Sen. Kamala Harris, former national security adviser Susan Rice, and Reps. Val Demings and Karen Bass as potential running mates.

He told MSNBC last week that he would meet the finalists in person, promising “personal discussions with each of the candidates who are left and make a decision.”

Still, Biden has mostly been hidden in this election cycle. He’s been in the bunker. And yes, to no one’s surprise, some of these questions were a joke regarding a presidential candidate. The press has learned from its 2016 mistakes. They’re not going to ask this man, whose mind appears to be going, any hard questions. They cannot create that contrast of a vibrant Trump and a mentally lost Biden. No way. They will treat him with kid gloves. It’s why Biden is able to spew nonsense like Trump overreaching with his presidential authority. As Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel pointed out, Obama initiated DAPA, DACA, and weaponized the Environmental Protection Agency to declare was on coal mining communities. 

So, brace yourselves, folks—the Biden’s VP is coming. Oh, and he also unveiled his multi-billion-dollar plan to eradicate racism (via NPR):

 Biden's proposal seeks to address the country's racial wealth, opportunity and jobs gaps through what the campaign says would be a "historic effort to empower small business creation and expansion in economically disadvantaged areas — and particularly for Black, Latino, [Asian American and Pacific Islander] and Native American-owned businesses."

The 26-page plan centers around the bolstering of small business opportunities for minority communities, reforming "opportunity zones," investing in affordable housing and homeownership, and expanding access to resources for entrepreneurs of color.

Many of the policy proposals detailed Tuesday have been released earlier by the campaign and reflect the priorities of the other three pillars of his plan to revitalize the economy, including a major expansion of access to child care, a $2 trillion climate agenda and a boost to manufacturing through a "Buy American" proposal.

The racial equity plan would devote $30 billion — 10% of the $300 billion Biden aims to invest in research and development to stimulate the economy — to a small business opportunity fund. The campaign suggests the investment would yield $150 billion in venture capital and low-interest business loans

But the real news is that Biden emerged from his darkened lair to announce his VP timeline. The rest was fluff questions and garbled responses. It's now 'wait and see' time. 

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UPDATE: Is it Harris? Politico seemed to have thought so: