And Biden Makes 20

Former Vice President Joe Biden formally announced his candidacy for President this morning in a video, followed by a rally at the Wilmington, DE train station named after him. The video prominently features Biden attacking bigot and sociopath Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump's response to the Charlottesville, VA riot by "Unite The Right" marchers made up of KKK and Nazis, whom Trump labeled as "very fine people."

Biden will need to catch up in fundraising to the current frontrunners, but he has a deep reserve of support going back long before he was President Obama's right hand man. He also picked up some endorsements within minutes of announcing, not that endorsements matter so much. A comment short of an endorsement from Obama's spokesman noted that the former President said that picking Biden as his running mate was one of the best decisions he's ever made.

Biden's announcement should have the effect of drying up contributions for some of the mid-and-lower tier Dems in the race, driving some out within the next couple of months. With a cast of thousands running on the Dem side, that would have happened eventually without him running.