Biden Camp Begins Soliciting Big Money Donations

The New York Times reports:

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has begun accepting financial donations for a 2020 presidential campaign, an unambiguous sign that he intends to begin his challenge to President Trump within days.

Several Democratic donors and party fund-raisers received emails in recent days encouraging them to write sizable checks to support Mr. Biden’s planned candidacy, and to mail them to a Democratic consulting firm in Northern Virginia. Two fund-raising solicitations, circulated by Democratic donors in California and Pennsylvania, said Mr. Biden’s campaign committee would be called “Biden for President.”

The pre-emptive push for large donations stands in sharp contrast to the effort many Democratic candidates have made to court small donors as a sign of their appeal to the party’s grass-roots base.

Campaign finance laws stipulate that online donations cannot be accepted until the candidate is formally declared. Biden is expected to launch his campaign next week with a video recorded in New Hampshire.