Biden Prepares His Media Blitz, Will He Run For President In 2020?
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(CNN) -- Get ready for the Joe Biden media blitz — starting Monday in New York City.
The former vice president will launch the tour for his new book, "Promise Me, Dad," by appearing on all four hours of NBC's "Today" on Monday. NBC plans to transform Rockefeller Plaza into the #AmericanPromiseTour plaza and host a special event there. He'll then appear on Stephen Colbert's CBS late-night show.
The first seven days of the book tour include events in Philadelphia, Washington and Nashville. The book is about how Biden coped with the death of his son, Beau Biden, and it's intended to be non-political. Of course, 2020 will come up, again and again.
The book tour comes at a time Biden had already been among the Democrats pondering a run for president in 2020 most openly. He's told people privately that he doesn't yet see anyone else who can beat President Donald Trump, so he might have to do it himself, Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere reports.
Does Biden regret not running in 2016? That's not quite how he put it with Oprah Winfrey this week.
"I regret that I am not president because I think there is so much opportunity," Biden said. He added: "I don't regret the decision I made because it was the right decision for my family."
News and notes:
VIRGINIA AND THE MACKER'S MOMENT: Outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe sauntered onto stage to Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" as he celebrated Democrats' massive wins in Virginia on Tuesday night at Ralph Northam's victory party. Then he delivered what sounded a lot like a 2020 stump speech in its early stages — it starts at 3:26 here and only runs about five minutes. "Tonight is a wake-up call in this country," he said.
One Democratic strategist emailed that his speech was "the best I've seen from a politician this year. A rebuke of hatred and bigotry paired with unapologetically bold, progressive accomplishments and positions that actually move our economy forward (the latter being especially key). A recipe for every progressive candidate running for office in 2018."
McAuliffe isn't as well-known as the top-tier 2020 players. And, another Democratic strategist said, he could be the right prospective candidate at the wrong time for a party looking for diversity and new leaders. But his resume — leaving a policy record, strong economic indicators and a suddenly deep Democratic bench behind as governor, swing state electoral success and national fundraising connections — is hard to ignore.
BANNON ON CUBAN: RUN AS A DEMOCRAT: Former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told TMZ this week that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban should run for president in 2020 not as a Republican, but as a Democrat. Then, The Daily Beast reported that Bannon and Cuban have been in touch. Cuban said the two have texted a few times.
So where is Cuban's head at about all this? He told CNN's Maeve Reston that he's not "committing to anything," and believes "the only smart strategy right now is to not focus on where things are today."
"To me the biggest underlying issue is that it needs to be someone who can stand up to Trump," Cuban said when asked about whether he would entertain a 2020 challenge to Trump. Someone who can "throw punches back harder than him, and spend 100% of their time with his base talking with them one on one, city by city, and letting them see what real respect for their situation is, and what real solutions sounds like."
STEYER SPENDING ANOTHER $10 MILLION: Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer is pumping a second $10 million into his TV ad campaign to impeach Trump. He announced two new ads on a Thursday conference call, per The Hill's Max Greenwood. One will spotlight the two million people who have signed Steyer's petition to impeach Trump; the other will ask supporters for ideas for a new impeachment ad campaign.
Steyer talked impeachment on an ABC News podcast. "I say to people, 'He is robbing the liquor store in plain daylight,'" Steyer said. "He's definitely met the criteria and he is a threat to the American people. The question is why aren't people willing to stand up and say that? I don't understand it."
DOES DE BLASIO HAVE A 2020 WINDOW? New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, an unabashed progressive endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, won re-election on Tuesday by more than 38 points. De Blasio is the first Democratic mayor to be re-elected since Ed Koch in 1985. His slate of achievements — universal pre-K, a rent freeze, ending "stop and frisk" policing while keeping crime down — put him on the 2020 map (even if his forays onto the national political scene haven't yielded much positive attention).
One veteran New York City Democratic operative who has been critical of de Blasio in the past said the mayor had the bona fides to compete in a Democratic primary. "Few, if any, of those 20 or 30 candidates are going to be able to say they've done something about (police treatment of young men of color) in the way that de Blasio has," the operative said. "And none of them, virtually none with the exception of some mayors, are going to be able to say they changed policing on a big scale and crime continued to go down. He has real accomplishments. He's got a lot to run on, a lot to talk about."
ZUCKERBERG CALLS FOR DREAM ACT: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg posted on his wall that he met with Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children — while visiting Oklahoma on Wednesday. "Inspired by the Dreamers I met in Oklahoma City. A good reminder that we need to pass the Dream Act before the end of this year," he wrote.
The week ahead:
Monday, November 13 — Former Vice President Joe Biden kicks off his book tour on NBC's "Today" show.
Wednesday, November 15 — The two-day Republican Governors Association meeting kicks off in Austin, Texas.
Friday, November 17 — Reps. Tim Ryan of Ohio, John Delaney of Maryland and Grace Meng of New York headline the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual Kennedy-Clinton Dinner. It starts at 5 p.m. ET at the Alpine Grove Banquet Hall in Hollis.
Before you go:
Julian Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary, says he "might" run for president in 2020. ... California Rep. Ro Khanna, a Berniecrat type to watch in the 2020 veepstakes, endorsed Kevin de León in his primary bid against Sen. Dianne Feinstein. ... New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker loves Trump. He said last month: "How can you think that you're going to beat darkness by stealing darkness? If Nelson Mandela can love his jailers, if Martin Luther King can love Bull Connor — we've got to be people of love!"
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