Vice President Joe Biden has had the Democrats on the edge of their seats over his decision whether or not to run for president, and now, insiders close to the Veep are saying he may decide in the next week.
Time is running out for any new entries into the primary races, as candidates need time to raise money and build an organization that can work to get him onto the ballots in all 50 states. But Biden has been particularly cagey, refusing to say whether he is running, even as he started hiring a staff for just that purpose.
Insiders quoted by CBS News now say that Biden is leaning toward throwing his hat in the ring.
Already, both President Obama and Biden’s own wife, Dr. Jill Biden, have said that the VP would be a good president and that they would support his run for the Democrat nomination.
Last week, CNN announced that a place would be saved for Biden in the first Democrat debate, coming up on October 13, even if he announced for president the very day of the debate. But sources are telling CBS that Biden would not likely participate in the first debate regardless because he will “need a couple of weeks” to organize his campaign.
But showing that Biden might be an attractive candidate, some big donors reportedly have already jumped from Team Hillary to Biden’s emerging campaign.
Recent polls have shown that Biden would be a strong candidate, easily scooting past lower rung candidates like Jim Webb, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafe. But he would still be in third place behind frontrunner Hilary Clinton and runner-up Bernie Sanders.
Still, the most recent poll shows that Clinton has only about 41 percent of the base, which means she is not necessarily in a commanding position. And her numbers have been steadily falling.
Perhaps in a sign that he is about to join the race, Biden is already starting to attack Republicans. This weekend, Biden took a swipe at the GOP candidates, calling them “homophobes.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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