WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden and his wife are retreating from Washington for a week in South Carolina with little on their schedule but a momentous decision to make: whether he should run for president.
Biden’s advisers say he hasn’t indicated which way he’s leaning. The vice president is still mourning the death of his son barely two months ago. But since reports surfaced saying he was taking a fresh look at running, potential campaign staffers have begun sending in their resumes, aides said, and longtime Biden donors have offered to help if he gets in the race.
And while Biden has yet to ask staff to organize on his behalf, he has started showing interest in details like filing deadlines and what it would take for him to raise enough money to build a campaign structure in the limited time left, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly.
So shortly after Biden returns from his vacation, his aides and supporters are expecting a decision about his political plans.
A Biden candidacy is still believed by his associates to be unlikely. It would dramatically reshape the Democratic race and undercut the sense of inevitability surrounding Hillary Rodham Clinton. Although still the clear front-runner, Clinton has seen declines in her favorability ratings just as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been drawing large crowds, demonstrating the appetite in the party for a Clinton alternative.
In the few months left before the primaries begin, it would be tough for Biden to put together a viable operation — but not impossible, said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist.
“You supercharge the money collection by putting together significantly rich people or those with extraordinary fundraising capacity,” Sheinkopf said. “There has always been a certain dislike and jealousy of the Clintons. He’s got to be able to tap into that.”
There are practical reasons that Biden will have to make a decision soon. The first filing deadlines for key primary states like New Hampshire and South Carolina are in November, and Biden would need some type of operation up and running to get on the ballot. He has said he’ll decide by end of summer.
Biden is a frequent visitor to South Carolina. He spends most Easters on Kiawah Island and was in the state last June, surprising churchgoers by showing up at the historic African-American church in Charleston where nine people had been gunned down just days before.
After leaving Washington on Friday, Biden was to spend the night at his family home in Delaware before flying to South Carolina on Saturday for a nearly weeklong trip with his wife, Jill Biden.
Over the years Biden has often spoken about the central role his family’s needs play in his political decisions. In recent weeks, nothing has done more to drive speculation about a Biden campaign than reports that Beau Biden, before his death, urged his father to run. The vice president’s wife and his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, are expected to play a key role in his decision.
Owens has run all of Biden’s previous campaigns, including his two unsuccessful bids for president, and individuals close to Biden described her as playing devil’s advocate, raising questions about the struggles he would face securing funds and Democratic institutional support despite her support for his ambition. Jill Biden, who teaches at a community college, has made no secret of her reluctance to be in the spotlight, once calling the White House “kind of confining.”
For his part, the vice president has been coy. Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office this week about whether he would run, Biden quipped, “Only if you’re my running mate.”
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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I wish with all my heart that he could be President – but I don’t know if I hope that he will run. The chances of his succeeding, given past efforts and the current focus on HRC, seem fairly dim, and while his “legacy” is already well established, it would be somewhat sad (I suppose that’s the best word) for his last official act on the public stage to be a 3rd failed run for the Presidency rather than a very successful 2 terms as Vice President. I think Josh said recently that he thinks Biden would be a good president but is not so sure that he can be a very good candidate for the presidency. Something to that effect, and that sort of sums up my feelings. ------ However, if he should decide to run, I’ll be knocking on the door of campaign headquarters and offering to do all that I can from the very first day. I don’t know if there is anyone on the national stage today for whom I have greater respect and trust. (Although I have to say that Pres. Obama and Bernie Sanders are not far behind)
He should run only if he thinks being on the road nearly 24/7 for the next year and money grubbing at every available moment will assuage his heartbreak.
When you put it that way – if Biden runs, it will be at great personal sacrifice. However, he knows the democrats really need a plan B candidate and that he is the best situated to step up to the plate if the Clinton campaign implodes. I think his decision will depend not only on the willingness of his family – but if Obama wants him to go for it. Should that happen, it will change the primary landscape profoundly.
Please! He and Bernie are dreaming. This lifelong Democrat is not looking someone who will be 74 or 76 when they take office. Time to retire like their contemporaries of which I am one.
I don’t know what he expects to achieve by running. And “only if you’re my running mate” is not the kind of joke a person makes if he’s actually decided to run. Seems like he wants something from the Clintons.