Perhaps more than any other presidential front-runner in modern history, he begins his bid confronting deep skepticism from friend and foe alike that he can capture his party’s nomination.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s entry Thursday into the sprawling Democratic primary has immediately reshaped the race, giving definition to a contest that has been defined mostly by uncertainty. Mr. Biden offers voters a household name, nearly a half-century of political experience and the implied promise of restoring the country to a less polarized, pre-Trump era.
But perhaps more than any other presidential front-runner in modern history, he begins his bid confronting deep skepticism from friend and foe alike that he can capture his party’s nomination.
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Here are five questions looming over Mr. Biden’s candidacy, the answers to which could determine whether he becomes America’s 46th president or concludes his career by losing his third bid for the White House.
Most casual voters, even in the primary, know Mr. Biden as President Barack Obama’s vice president. But he was a senator from Delaware for 36 years before he entered the West Wing, and his record from a decidedly earlier day in Democratic politics is where his rivals for the nomination will focus their fire. He opposed busing to integrate schools, wrote a hard-line criminal justice bill and supported the Iraq War.
Most immediately, Mr. Biden will have to decide how to respond to new critical comments by Anita Hill, the law professor who in 1991 accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Mr. Biden recently called her, according to an aide, to express regrets that he did not do more for her when he presided over her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But she told The New York Times that the call left her deeply unsatisfied, and that she did not consider it an apology. She said she is not convinced that Mr. Biden truly accepts the harm he caused her and other women.
It remains unclear what his broader strategy will be for handling scrutiny from the press and bombardments from his Democratic opponents along with a legion of left-wing critics who want to defeat his candidacy and ward off any return to a more moderate brand of liberalism.
Mr. Biden’s supporters hope Mr. Obama offers him something of a halo. Many in Mr. Biden’s orbit hope that rather than litigate every criticism about his Senate record, he restrains himself and focuses on his partnership with the country’s first black president.
The message from Mr. Biden’s announcement video was urgent and unmistakable: President Trump’s tenure amounts to a national emergency and defeating him is essential to America’s survival.
