Halperin: By Not Endorsing Hillary, De Blasio 'May Be Playing More Dangerous Game Than He Realizes'

April 22nd, 2015 5:55 PM

Serious question: what did Mark Halperin mean when he said that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio "may be playing a more dangerous game than he realizes" by refusing so far to endorse Hillary?

On today's With All Due Respect, Halperin prefaced his ominous observation by saying that there is "furor in Hillary Clinton's camp" over the matter.  De Blasio's omission certainly is striking, considering that he was Hillary's campaign manager when she ran for Senate from New York. 

So again, just what did Halperin have in mind?  

JOHN HEILEMANN: [After playing a clip of de Blasio denying any interest in running for president] So he's not running. He doesn't want to be asked to run. And he isn't positioning himself. Check, check, check. We got that. Okay, so the question is, why hasn't the mayor of New York, a guy who also happens to have been Hillary Clinton's former Senate campaign manager, endorsed her yet? Mark, what on earth is Bill de Blasio waiting for? 

MARK HALPERIN: Well, he's going to put out kind of a liberal version of the Contract With America and he wants her to endorse it. But there was a hilarious and interesting story in the Wall Street Journal today that lays out all the things that the de Blasio agenda includes, and Hillary Clinton's for all of them. She's giving him what he wants. There is furor in Hillary Clinton's camp that one the most prominent people in America who hasn't endorsed her yet is the mayor of her own, of New York City, and her own former campaign manager. And it seems to me that he may be playing a more dangerous game than he realizes.