'Joe, run,' says emotional TV ad by Draft Biden super PAC
Draft Biden PAC intensifies its efforts to demonstrate support for the vice president to enter the Democratic 2016 race with a national cable TV ad that stresses his empathy.
The Draft Biden super PAC has launched an emotional ad aimed at convincing Vice President Biden to jump into the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, highlighting his struggles to try to overcome family tragedies to find personal "redemption."
It is part of a growing effort to demonstrate that there is a reservoir of support for the vice president among Democratic voters and donors for him to make a late entry into the campaign. Biden has been considering a bid for the past two months as he continues to mourn the death of his son, Beau, 46, after a battle with brain cancer.
The 90-second spot displays images from the vice president's life as his hushed voice, from a recent speech to Yale students, provides the narration. It begins with Biden's election to the U.S. Senate, in 1972, and a motor-vehicle accident six weeks later that killed his first wife and his daughter and left his two sons with serious injuries.
"The incredible bond I have with my children is the gift I'm not sure I would have had, had I not been through what I went through," Biden says. "But by focusing on my sons, I found my redemption. Many people have gone through things like that."
It ends with two words on screen: Joe, run.
The ad was conceived and produced by consultant Mark Putnam, one of President Obama's lead media advisers, who also worked on Biden's 1987 presidential campaign. Draft Biden said the ad will run on national cable, with a six-figure "buy" of time.