News / Politics

Rupert Murdoch floats Kerry as last-minute Dem 2016 candidate

Saturday, 06 February 2016 9:45 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 07 February 2016 2:01 AM ]

US Secretary of State John Kerry

The belief that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy will sink makes it possible for US Secretary of State John Kerry to become the Democratic Party’s last-minute presidential nominee, Australian-born American media mogul Rupert Murdoch says.

"Watch Hillary's candidacy sink and sink. Nobody buying and more big trouble coming on emails. Dems looking for replacement. John Kerry?" Murdoch tweeted on Saturday.

In 2008, Murdoch reportedly donated $2,300 to Clinton's presidential primary campaign, and the Fox News owner said in 2014 that he could support Clinton in 2016 depending “on the Republican candidate totally.”

Kerry was the Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to the Republican Party’s nominee, George W. Bush. He was appointed the secretary of state following the departure of Clinton.

Clinton is facing scrutiny for using her own private email server to conduct government business during her tenure as secretary of state. She could face legal trouble after the State Department determined emails she sent and received on a homebrew server during her time in office.

Clinton said on Thursday that she is "100 percent confident" the ongoing investigation will not find wrongdoing.

Critics say the email scandal should disqualify Clinton for the presidency, and claim the investigation has had an impact on her sinking poll numbers.

She and her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, have also come under increasing criticism for their financial activities and giving highly paid speeches in recent years.

According to a new poll, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has wiped out Clinton’s wide lead since the start of the year, putting the two in a dead heat nationally.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Friday, found that Clinton was leading Sanders 48 to 45 percent among Democratic voters days after their close race in the Iowa caucuses, the nation's first nomination contest ahead of the November election.

Democrats had been supporting Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin at the beginning of 2016, but Sanders has managed to considerably narrow that gap over the past few weeks.

Earlier this week, the Vermont senator lost Iowa to Clinton by the narrowest margin in state history, capturing 49.6 percent of the vote compared to former secretary of state’s 49.9 percent.

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