Former vice president Joe Biden jumps into White House race

Former vice president Joe Biden opened his third campaign for the presidency on Thursday, efforts that have spread over 32 years, taking direct aim at President Trump and declaring that “we are in the battle for the soul of this nation.”

In a video posted on social media, Biden recounted the deadly clash between white supremacists and counterprotesters at a 2017 gathering in Charlottesville, after which Trump said there were “some very fine people on both sides.”

“In that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had seen in our lifetime,” Biden said, adding: “The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America America is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”

The entry of Biden, 76 and for eight years the second-in-command to the last Democrat to successfully seek the presidency, is certain to shape the early months of the 2020 Democratic primary fight, given his early lead in national polling.

Biden made his announcement hours before a major campaign fundraiser was to take place in Philadelphia. His first campaign event, union-themed, is expected to be held Monday in Pittsburgh, a Democratic city whose suburbs and exurbs are filled with the sort of voters who abandoned the Democratic Party to side with Trump in 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-vice-president-joe-biden-jumps-into-white-house-race/2019/04/25/093ff596-0aef-11e9-88e3-989a3e456820_story.html?utm_term=.18c3e97bf5e8&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1