Joe Biden is defending what many Democrats see as all but indefensible: the 1994 crime bill
At virtually every campaign stop, the former vice president fields questions about the consequences of the measure, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton 25 years ago and is now a potential weight around Biden's 2020 presidential bid. It's the starkest example of how a signature piece of his legislation, which most Democrats supported at the time, is viewed in a far different light today.
But his focus on the crime bill could increase attention on an issue with the potential to drive a wedge between Biden and black voters; polls have shown that bloc is his most significant base of support in the 2020 Democratic nominating contest -- particularly in South Carolina, an early-voting state where the majority of the Democratic electorate is African American.
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