EDGARTOWN, Mass. – As Joe Biden considers a possible run for president, the donors he’d need to be viable appear to be ruling him out.

Not all 400 people who gathered at a waterfront estate here on Sunday have been die-hard supporters of Hillary Clinton. In fact, many of them recall a rough summer eight years ago when Martha’s Vineyard’s liberal elite split their loyalties between Clinton and Barack Obama. But on Sunday, they were reveling in party unity and had little appetite for Biden to complicate the field, despite their affection for him.


“I like Joe, but I’m hoping he doesn’t” run, said Kathryn Allen, who campaigned for Obama in the 2008 primary. “I really believe that there is no one more qualified at this point,” than Clinton.

Donors ponied up between $1,000 and $2,700 for a brunch reception, where Clinton made a point of praising Obama’s handling of the economy, reiterated her support for the Iran nuclear deal and pledged to preserve his signature health care law. Only once in her half-hour speech did she draw a gentle distinction with Obama, saying she would have more success working with Republicans.

“It’s not easy,” said Clinton, whose remarks were partially audible from a private-access beach behind the home of Frank and Carol Biondi, the fundraiser’s hosts. “You have to work with them day in and day out. So I will meet with anyone, anytime, anywhere. But I will stand my ground.”

Even Democrats who preferred Obama in 2008 said they were giddy about the possibility of electing the first woman president. They were also especially proud of the limited Democratic field in contrast to the chaotic, 17-way Republican brawl.

That’s why, they said, Biden should reject the inclination to run as he looks for possible paths to the nomination during the next few weeks.

Clinton-Obama unity — not Biden’s decision — was the theme of the weekend on Martha’s Vineyard. The Obamas are currently on vacation on the island, where Bill and Hillary Clinton spent most summers during his two terms. Obama and the former president played golf on Saturday morning and toasted their mutual longtime friend Vernon Jordan at his 80th birthday party that evening.

On Sunday, Obama stayed at his rental home “Up island” in Chilmark during Clinton’s fund-raiser, which was near the Vineyard’s popular South Beach. But other Obama vacation regulars, like private equity investor and golf buddy Glenn Hutchins, mingled over one-bite BLTs and chicken sausages, with the likes of Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton’s national security adviser.

It wasn’t always this cosy. The summer of 2007 was “a very tense time,” said Robin Leeds, who, with tongue-in-cheek melodrama, described tested friendships and divided families as the Vineyard’s moneyed left split themselves among Clinton and Obama — not to mention John Edwards.

While there was some hand-wringing about Bernie Sanders’ rise on Sunday, there’s zero appetite to see the vice president offer himself as another alternative, said Rob Liberatore, who as a former aide to the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has known Biden for more than 30 years.

At least for now, that is.

“I would be surprised if he decided to run, unless something happened to Hillary, something health-wise or who knows what,” said Liberatore. He described his own split household in 2007: He supported Clinton, while his wife attended a fundraiser for Obama.

Even though she was a White House aide in the Clinton administration, Leeds also raised money for Obama in the 2008 primary. This time, she’s firmly in the Clinton camp, serving on the host committee for Sunday’s event.

“Now I think that tension has dissipated because the biggest concern is getting a Democrat in office,” she said. “There really is no contest right now. I think people are unifying around Hillary.”

The loyalties of Frank Biondi, a Viacom executive, and his wife, Carol, have never been divided. They’ve been helping Hillary Clinton raise campaign cash since her campaign for New York Senate in 2000. On Sunday, they pitched a tent in the backyard of their Edgartown mansion, allowing guests to look out over Kitama Bay to Chappaquiddick Island.

While Clinton’s remarks were wide-ranging, her call for a greater emphasis on early childhood development was the focal point. Speaking of her infant granddaughter Charlotte as an animating example, Clinton contrasted the advantages that Chelsea Clinton’s offspring will have compared to another imaginary child, Charlie, who comes from a disadvantaged background.

Charlotte’s family is already talking, reading and singing to her, Clinton said. By the time Charlotte starts kindergarten, Clinton joked, “she’s a Clinton, she’s talking too much, probably.”

But compared to Charlie, whose dad lost his job, Charlotte may have already heard 30,000 more words when she starts school, Clinton said, citing recent social science research.

“At the end of the day, you should not have to be the granddaughter of a former president” to have those sorts of advantages, Clinton concluded.

Though the event was closed to the public and press, Clinton was careful to take note of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has disrupted the events of her Democratic rivals Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

The movement has sought to highlight the race-based disadvantages blacks face in American society, and Clinton called it a “really important statement,” adding, “We can’t act like it’s happening somewhere else.”