Joe Biden: "I don't consider Republicans enemies; they're friends."

[DrScholl]

He won't win any votes from Democrats talking like that.

[DrScholl]

The problem with this friends notion is that Republicans are not going to support a Democrat just because he considers them friends, it just doesn't work like that. The GOP in Congress has threatened to shut down the government and admitted to misusing authority for political reason, neither of which sounds like friendship. It doesn't matter who Democrats nominate, the Republican Party will come at them with both barrels and that is what makes more centrist voters dislike the GOP.

[DrScholl]

Hillary is an extremely polarizing candidate with no crossover appeal and Indies hate her, Biden's unity message could pay dividends in the GE.

Obama lost independents. He won two elections with over 50%.

Exactly. The Democrats will win by mobilizing their base, not by going after that elusive moderate/centrist/persuadable voter.

What is overlooked a lot of times is that much of the Democratic voting base is registered as independent. There are plenty of left-leaning voters who vote mostly Democratic, but do not register with a party.