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Vice President Joe Biden has barely hidden his possible interest in running for president in 2016, and now, the loquacious former senator has begun to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign to succeed President Barack Obama.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden shares his thoughts on whether his father will run for the presidency in 2016.
"In a couple years, I think he's going to take a hard look at it," Beau Biden, the vice president's son and the attorney general of Delaware, said on MSNBC. "I hope he does."
A potential Biden bid for the presidency will come as little surprise to observers of the vice president over the past few years; Biden has often dropped hints of his interest in running as Democrats' nominee in 2016, and has repeatedly refused to rule out running in 2016 when asked.
Biden further stoked speculation this inaugural weekend, when he stopped by the Iowa State Society's inaugural ball, and invited top New Hampshire Democrats to his formal swearing-in ceremony on Sunday. Both Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally host the first two nominating contests of a presidential cycle.
At the Iowa ball, he mistakenly referred to himself as president, before correcting himself. “I’m proud to be president of the United States,” he said before pausing to rephrase. “I’m proud to be vice president of the United States but I am prouder to be Barack Obama, President Barack Obama’s vice president.”
And on Monday, during the inaugural parade, he glad-handed his way down Pennsylvania Avenue. Biden waved and pointed at parade-goers on the sidelines, and even ran over to shake the hand of NBC’s Al Roker, positioned behind a security barricade.
Moments after speaking with President Obama, NBC's Al Roker gets an impromptu handshake from Vice President Biden along the inaugural parade route.
When he ran into a Republican voter in Florida during the closing days of the campaign, Biden cautioned the Obama administration's health reform law would be a chit in his column during the next presidential campaign. "After it's all over when your insurance rates go down, then you'll vote for me in 2016," he said, employing a quip that quickly drew attention for its electoral implications.
Biden has twice run for president before, in 1988 and 2008. And each time, his candidacy flamed out. In the '88 campaign, Biden withdrew before the first nominating contest following allegations that he had plagiarized portions of speeches.
Biden survived through the Iowa caucus in 2008, but ended his campaign following a fifth place finish in the contest. The then-Delaware senator committed some trademark gaffes during that campaign, too. Biden joked, for instance, about how "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." He also memorably referred to Obama, his future boss, as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean."
But Biden, who served in the Senate from 1973 to 2009 and established himself as an expert on matters of foreign policy, now finds himself arguably at the apex of his political strength. Forty-one percent of Americans said they have a positive impression of the vice president in the most recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, versus 37 percent who have a negative impression of Biden. Those aren't blockbuster numbers, but they're among Biden's best in the history of the poll.
But a successful run in 2016 would make Biden the nation’s oldest inaugurated president. He turns 74 in 2016, a year older than Ronald Reagan when he took the oath at his second inaugural.
Biden emerged during the 2012 Obama campaign as a key asset of the president's, stumping repeatedly in key blue collar corners of swing states like Ohio and Wisconsin. During those stops, the vice president offered some of the sharpest criticism of Republican nominee Mitt Romney's policies in a direct appeal to middle class voters.
Brian Snyder / Reuters
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, dance at the Commander-in-Chief's Ball in Washington, Jan. 21, 2013.
Biden acted as a key player during the president's first term on matters ranging from foreign policy to domestic. Biden was tasked with implementing the 2009 economic stimulus, and Obama asked him more recently to lead the task force that developed recommendations to curb instances of gun violence.
Obama has also repeatedly turned to Biden to lean on his long-standing relationships in the Senate to help forge deals with Republicans. When talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" reached an impasse late this past December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reached out to Biden, who won some of the credit for the last-minute deal.
Still, Biden has also become a favorite target of conservatives during the last four years, not least of which because of his not-infrequent gaffes. Conservative media outlets enjoyed stoking speculation, for instance, that Obama might bump Biden off of the ticket in favor of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- suggesting that Biden had become too big of a liability to the president's re-election campaign.
And indeed, there were moments during the 2012 campaign where Biden veered badly off script. When he expressed his personal support for same-sex marriage during a May 6 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," he preempted Obama's own anticipated endorsement of gay and lesbian marriage rights. Obama was forced to hastily follow in the footsteps of his vice president.
Biden also won the enmity of the Romney campaign when he told a predominantly African-American audience that the GOP ticket's economic policies would "put y'all back in chains."
But despite Biden's propensity to fall off-message on occasion, he still enjoys a champion in one key ally: Obama.
"One decision I know was absolutely correct -- absolutely spot on -- was my choice of vice president," Obama said Sunday at an inaugural reception. "I could not have a better partner than Joe Biden."
That's a line that Biden would no doubt love to feature in a campaign ad in just a few years. He might not be the only Democrat in the race -- many in the party hope that Clinton will seek the nomination again -- though the vice president's door to running is open than ever.
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Either Joe will Run...
Or Concede The Election ....and Retire in Florida..
Long time Friend and Hollywood Supporter...GOOFY...
Wiill help joe with Retirement transition..To DISNEY WORLD
Does this Dolt take himself seriously ? Nobody else does.
Well, maybe we can go from a wild-eyed liberal incompetent president to a wild-eyed liberal senile president. Of course, after four more years of Obama, the country won't remotely resemble the country envisioned by our founders anyway.
He would definitely be my choice. Believe me Obama has sought his input more than one can imagine.
He'd be my choice, simply because I'm tired of hearing about Democrats. His nomination would guarantee a Republican win in 2016.
The Republicans have 4 years for the wounds to heal for how they tried so hard to alienate blacks, hispanics, muslims, and so. But for some reason I do not think they will use the 4 years wisely and come the next election Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Lance Armstrong, O.J. Simpson and anyone else you name will be able to beat them. I was actually hoping that John Boehner would have ran this last election. I think they may have sunk themselves for some time.
You have got to be kidding me. Biden is an arrogant IDIOT who THINKS he is the only one who knows what is best for America. If he is elected president, the new national anthem will be " HI-HO, HI-HO it's on the road to SOCIALISM we go".
Hey Marks,, your democrats had control of the house and senate when we went to war and they all voted for it. To blame Bush 4 years after your almighty took the reigns shows that you dont look at reality of failure, but rather listen to the words of man who has accomplished nothing in life other than pass the largest yet to come tax increase on America in the ACA and deflect blame to someone else. And dont give me the crap of him being the first african american president. He is NOT an african american by the standards required. His father, nor his fathers family has any connection to the african americans whose families suffered.
NBC, the media arm of the DNC has begun the campaign for 2016 election of a Democrat.
I simply wish NBC would come out of the closet and own up to the fact that it is an arm of the DNC.
Like CBS did yesterday with John Dickheaderson?
As foolish as people vote in this country he will probably win by a landslide ! Then everyone can sit around and complain ! While they get their check !
Nope. Blacks stay home. Latinos back Rubio. It's going to be a landslide, alright.
Let me get this straight. The greatest president in the history of the universe was sworn in for his second term only yesterday, and the media is already salivating for 2016? What does that tell you? I guess Obama is now passe for the media pundits who were orgasmic over every word he said four years ago.
the greatest president?...are you stoned?..he is the worst president our nation has seen...
Please do a three page essay on sarcasm and post your results here within 24 hours.
Some of you should have listened more closely to Obama's inaugural address: name calling is not intelligent discourse.
I would take Joe over Obama any day.
JoeBama Biden?
Libtards seem to love misery so it depends on how bad Odumbo screws up the next 4 years. If he accomplishes nothing like he had in his first 4 years then the bumbling moron Biden will be a shoe in. Of course Hitlery might have something to say about it and after what happened to Vince Foster,i'd be worried if i were Biden. Odumbo already screwed her out of it once so no telling what she'd do in 2016.
Get real, Joe. Hillary will make you fold like a cheap lawn chair.
Biden has too many skeletons. Plagiarism and censored, funneled money to bogus company staffed by friends and family. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Dems can do better.
Sad thing is, people are so stupid in this country the Democratic party could run Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the ticket and he'd win. He'd promise welfare for all and talk of how great Sharia Law is and how he'd impose it immediately. Toss in some "Hope and Change" and you got a winner. It doesn't take much to win President when 50 Million People will vote for you because they'll make sure you keep getting free stuff. Sad, but true. We never hear about how it will be paid for, but we hear a lot about Trillion + dollar budget shortfalls every year. People simply cannot, or refuse to do the math.
Joe Biden as President??? LOL! Only OBL wanted him..."Osama bin Laden aimed to assassinate President Barack Obama but directed fellow al-Qaida fighters to leave Vice President Joe Biden alone, describing him as "totally unprepared" to take over and predicting a "crisis" in America if that happened" ....what a joke.
Joe's not going to run, since we all know that by then the idiot we have now, will have dropped obama as his last name & will just be know as Barack Hussein & declare himself ruler for life like Idi Amin did in Uganda!
It'll never happen.
1) Too many skeletons in the closet, not the least of which is the plagarism confession that knowcked him out of the Democratic primary in the past. Doesn't keep you from being VP (obviously)...but keep you from being POTUS.
2)Assuming Hilary is healthy, her organizational machine and fund-raising will blow Biden out of the water before he clears the harbor.
3)Too old...he'll be 74 in 2016. Hilary's only five years yonger, but that's a big five years.
4)Already a two-time also-ran.
He is too old. Also, his wife, who has a Ph.D. in education, insists on being addressed as "Doctor," a pretension that I just can't stand. I have an advanced degree in education, too; you can practically buy one of those, you are not better prepared to teach, and you don't know how to take out a hot appendix. It is a one huge baloney, education degrees; please pass the mustard. Doctor, my foot!
Joe! Say it isn't so!
Gag.........
hahaha, I dare you :), So, the democrats do not want to win next term? They have screwed up everything so badly, that they want the republicans to take the presidency so they can blame them again...
God Help Us!
...
No better choice.
He would take up right where the president leaves off with respect to the progressive movement for which the nation is clamoring.
.
Biden in 2016.
...
Why do they let people in asylums use the internet?? Nothing in my Brain would be a better name for you.
Now we talking; going from a smart socialist to a stupid socialist. The best is yet to come to America. What time warp are we living in??
Oh God, I can't stop Laughing. This Clown, no really, he's an actual clown, couldn't get elected for class president of our local Kindergarten. He's the only one in the White House that is more incompetent and pathetic than Odumbo. But I'm sure the idiotic liberal media will keep blathering on about it...because that's what they do. What a fcking waste of a perfectly good headline and article.