Biden: Dems shouldn’t rely on ‘millionaires and billionaires’

by Jesse Byrnes - 07/17/15 1:40 PM ET

Vice President Biden has called on Democrats to limit the role of big money in the primary season, reflecting at length on the “corrosive impact of massive amounts of money.”

“Folks, we ought to start in our own party. You ought to be demanding of all of us, all of us, because at least in our own party fights among ourselves, in primaries, that we adhere to a policy that doesn’t rest on millionaires and billionaires,” Biden said Thursday during a speech in Washington.

“They’re good people. They’re not bad, per se,” Biden said to those gathered at the Generation Progress National Summit. “But it’s a hell of a way to run a democracy.”

“So the first place you got to start is in the Democratic Party. No matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand of us that we demonstrate that we understand,” he said.

Biden, who has not ruled out a 2016 presidential bid, insisted he was not talking about any candidate in particular, though his comments could be viewed as an implicit shot at front-runner Hillary Clinton.

“I know a lot of people are going to read into this part of what I’m saying something I’m not intending. I’m not talking about any individual. I really am not,” Biden said.

His address to a crowd of young activists came hours after Wednesday night’s deadline for filing finance reports, which showed Clinton’s campaign bringing in nearly $47 million in its first three months.

Of that, $30.8 million, or 67 percent, came from donors giving the maximum $2,700 for an individual and $8.1 million from those giving $200 or less, according to analysis from the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute. Her campaign touted that 94 percent of donations were $250 or less.

Among her opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination, 77 percent of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) contributions, $10.5 million, came in donations of $200 or less, while 69 percent of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s donations, $1.4 million, came from those giving the $2,700 limit, according to the institute’s analysis.

“We can do something about the corrosive impact of massive amounts of money. We can demand that the people we support don’t yield to millionaires and billionaires. Take their money in limited amounts, but what are we doing?” Biden asked Thursday.

The vice president, still mourning the death of eldest son Beau Biden, 46, from brain cancer May 30, is ramping up his travel schedule next week. Despite pressure to enter the race from supporters, it remains unclear whether Biden will launch a presidential bid.

Tags 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton Joe Biden Martin O'Malley