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FORMER US VICE President Joe Biden is wrapping up a busy stretch of events this week before stepping out of the public eye to hold family deliberations over the holidays on whether to launch another campaign for president, according to multiple people familiar with his thinking.
With his name recognition and strong connections to Democratic power brokers across the country, Biden would likely enter a presidential contest a top-tier candidate, if not the front-runner.
That prospect is creating intense focus around his every move as he approaches a decision.
Biden, 76, was expected in Washington today to host two annual holiday receptions with friends, including longtime backers from key early presidential primary states, according to invitees who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private parties.
Biden also was expected to meet with some of his longtime political advisers while in Washington.
Former President Barack Obama, who formed a close relationship with Biden during their years in the White House, wasn’t expected to attend the receptions. Obama has met with other potential presidential candidates since midterm elections, including Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
After his swing through Washington, Biden will host what was expected to be his final public event of the year on tomorrow at a university in Utah.
The moves cap what has been an extraordinarily busy year for Biden. He maintained a packed campaign schedule stumping for Democrats ahead of the midterms, including stops for candidates in the early presidential contest states of Iowa and South Carolina.
In all, Biden will have visited 31 states this year, including trips intended to promote a book about his late son.
Biden has done little to dissuade speculation that he’d run for president a third time. S
ince the midterms, he has held calls and met privately with longtime supporters about what a presidential campaign could look like, according to aides.
He declared himself “the most qualified person in the country to be president” during an appearance last week in Montana. At a later event in Vermont, he recalled concerns from his dying son, Beau, that “I’d turn inward, that I’d withdraw from public life.”
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, a devout Biden supporter, said today that Biden would bring unmatched qualifications to the race. He said Biden has the ability to connect with a range of voters Democrats need to win back the White House in 2020, including those in less-typically Democratic territory, where President Donald Trump won in 2016.
“I think he’s probably the best one qualified to do that. He’s been doing it for a long, long time, and I’m hoping to see that,” Jones said during an interview for The Associated Press’ Newsmakers series. “I feel confident there are others as well.”
The reflection ahead for Biden comes at a time when the Democratic presidential field is in flux.
As many as two dozen potential candidates could announce intentions to run for president by early next year. Many of those potential contenders are fresh faces in a party eager to move on from its disastrous performance in 2016.
O’Rourke, in particular, has emerged as an unlikely force. Many donors and activists are awaiting his decision before declaring allegiance to a candidate.
Biden said last week he expects to decide within two months whether to wage a third campaign for the presidency.
Teri Goodman, a longtime Biden supporter from Dubuque, Iowa, said she met with Biden during his campaign visit to Cedar Rapids in late October.
“We had a good visit. It wasn’t brief,” Goodman said. “He had not made up his mind.”
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Hasn’t a chance, too old let alone the ‘creepy Joe’ tag running against him.
@Niamh Breslin: Younger than Bernie Saunders who seemed to awake a generation (granted a minority one)
@Bilbo Baggins: Bernie could have won no doubt if they hadn’t shafted him but he would have been elected at 75, not seeking election at 78 when there would be a gruelling and more contentious campaign ever seen before lying ahead.
Even Hillary paid the price by her stumble/coughing into her limousine at the ballot box and she didn’t have (or so they thought) such opposition.
@Bilbo Baggins: Bernie didn’t awaken a generation because of his age. Biden and Beto are just the same old corporate democrats that we’ve seen for the past 30 years. People got behind Bernie because of his policies. Democrats really need to cop on to this or they’re going to lose miserably again.
@Niamh Breslin: em, you’d be surprised, national hero and has a huge amount of sympathy after the loss of his Donald wife.
@Niamh Breslin: Say it ain’t so, Joe!
@WilliamMorris: That’s clear, I’m saying he gathered that support in spite of his age. I don’t know much about the Joe show, seems to be a middle of the road Dem which would make sense as to why he was on O’Bama’s ticket. The likes of a vanilla Dem running is just respeating the same actions and expecting different results. I don’t think Joe should run, he prob is too old but I’d not like that to be the defining factor.
@Bilbo Baggins: Yeah, I agree.
If the Dems run Biden, they have learned nothing.
This is so cringe. There is no vacancy.
@Thomas Molloy: are you expecting elections to be cancelled or something?
@Dave O’Keeffe: unless the Yellahead is impeached I would be very concerned that he could get another term . We live in interesting times , not always embracing common sense or indeed, common morality. We do not have to look as far as the US to see that.
@Terry Cahill: very true but the fact is there will be an election.
He was vice president when Obama was doing regime change in Syria and Libya….Think he would be dangerous president might try regime change in Crimea…
@iComment: Boty Mac Botface
@Bilbo Baggins: a bot is not just a person who thinks the war in Syria was western backed. If you look up anything to do with beauty products you’ll find bots barging in on comments with weird reviews. You can tell straight away. I’ll put up some links later if I see some.
Should be thinking of a retirement home never mind the White House…
@Catherine O’Connor: Seriously ageist comment.
A bless him,Trump will have him for breakfast..with all the negative press about the president of the USA …Its hard to find fault..only media spin and nonsense as far as I can see.
@Tomas: lol, I think it’s up to three courts at this stage that haven’t found it difficult to find fault.
@Tomas: “Its hard to find fault”
Ar you for f’#king real???
Biden and Mrs Obama :)
@Paul Furey: Poor old Joe wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her..
@Louis Jacob: Former USE Vice President?? Where is USE??
Creepy Joe Biden will be a dream come through for Donald Trump.
The mainstream politicians need to step back , Hillary lost because despite more votes in total in key states she was seen as the mainstream Washington politician .To win the Democrats need a Bernie type , Beto maybe , Michelle maybe , but Biden will just be portrayed as an Obama puppet . Let’s not forget Obama won the first time round because he was anything but mainstream ..
@Limón Madrugada: Exactly. ‘the most qualified person to run the country’. Where have we heard that before? I think you’re wrong about M Obama though. That “when they go low we go high” stuff is nauseating. I think Beto might be the man. Remains to be seen.
@Limón Madrugada: Beto is not a Bernie type he’s a corporate democrat, e.g. he’s against Medicare for all… Democrats deserve to lose if they chose to run with Biden or Beto. Bernie or someone with Bernie’s policies needs to run.
@WilliamMorris: no he’s not. He doesn’t like Conyers Medicare for all bill because it only allows reimbursement for non-profit organisations, which is not how Medicare works now. He wants Medicare as it is now to be extended to everyone.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Have to disagree with you there Dave… O’Rourke’s congressional voting record signals skepticism about progressive priorities. “While the Democratic base is coalescing around single-payer health care and free college, O’Rourke sponsored neither House bill,” Jilani wrote, “During his time in Congress, he never joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus.” Instead, O’Rourke is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist caucus with Clintonian views on health care, education and trade. from this article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-this-progressive-texan-cant-get-excited-about-beto-orourke/2018/12/05/641c7f0e-f8b9-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?utm_term=.e0151ba33c5d
@WilliamMorris: You’re quoting an opinion piece which is fine but it is also just that, opinion. It’s difficult when that opinion goes against the actual words of the candidate.
O joy for the democrat loving media
@Anthony Murphy: Does it bother you when the media sides with the victim in a murder case over the perpetrator? Democrats for all their faults are angels compared to the republicans in America.. The only reason they get any good publicity is because they pay Fox and Breitbart for it.
@Rob Cahill: wishful if not biased thinking in my opinion. We are all quiet happy over here with the resurgence of our economy and not at all upset with rebalancing our foreign policy in our favor. We are not unhappy with actions speaking louder than words for once. I must ashamedly admit enjoying the hysterical outbursts of our weak but virtuous SJW left wingers.
Creepy Uncle Joe? He’d certainly win the majority of the electoral college. But do you know who would really do it for the Dems? The towering intellectual that is Alexandra Occasio Cortez. If the US don’t get won over by her “tax the rich to the ground, abolish the military and spend it all on giving everyone a living-wage, oh and feck Israel” policies I do t know what’s wrong with the world.
In reality, neither will beat Trump if given the opportunity the next time around and both will be a distant memory by the time he finishes his second term.
As for Beto O’Rourke, how are his presidential election hopes still a thing? No amount of dollars will get him the top job. In Texas he effectively spent $20 per vote received, as opposed to Cruz’s $2.
@Brian Lenehan: I love how scared AOC has made all the right wingers… It’s hilarious. I mean you’re trying to insult her by repeating her policies : Tax the rich ( obviously this needs to happen, 3 people in America own the same wealth as the bottom 50% ), reduce military spending ( America spends over 700 billion a year, more than 3 times what China in second place spends and for what?), give everyone a living wage ( yes obviously ) , feck Israel ( yes, hold an ethnostate that murders Palestinians on a whim to account). You forot to mention Medicare for all, America is the only develped nation on earth where a cancer diagnosis usually results in you losing your life savings.
@Brian Lenehan:Beto O’Rourke ran in Texas.Do you know anything about the way that the people ‘usually’ vote in Texas? The fact of the matter is that he did extremely well there.
Trump won’t be getting the same amount of votes that he got in the last election,& it’s mainly due to the broken promises that he has made.Also,the majority of Americans don’t like babies being ‘forcefully’ separated from their parents at the border.Only the “pro life” fundamentalists enjoyed that..
Please no
With the Russia nonsense coming to an end, it’s very difficult to see what the Dem platform will be. Being anti Trump won’t work. He has a very low bar, he won the presidency with just 41% approval and now he’s consistently around 47%. Trump has a majority on his side regarding tougher immigration (that’s why he never lets it go) and if the economy stays good he’s in great shape. History is also on his side as only twice since WW2 has a president lost re-election and never with a good/great economy. Also they have inadvertently made him bulletproof as calling him sexist racist etc etc is now totally ineffective. He already has a massive re-election fund. But above all, this time he has the bully pulpit and sweet mother of Jesus, he will absolutely savage the next Dem candidate. He will drag he/she into the sewer like nothing we’ve ever seen before. #bloodbath
@paul jones: Ford, Cater and Bush. That’s three who lost re-election I can think of off the top of my head…
@Padraig MacRodáin: Ford wasn’t even elected as Vice President. He was appointed before Nixon resigned. He never elected to office in any capacity other than a congressman.
@paul jones: I’m aware. But regardless of how he came into office, the fact remains that he stood against Jimmy Carter and lost. Even if Trump remains the President in 2020, his status as the nominee is far from certain.
Trump will convincingly win a second term, and rightly so; the US economy is booming, unemployment has fallen, and he is a welcome counter to the fake news of the liberal media.
@Mike Conway: Surely the journal can remove these bot posts as well as the stuff they don’t agree with???
I’d like to see Joe Kennedy run. He’s young, principled and has a good head on his shoulders. The polar opposite of Trump.
Don’t do it Joe, leave it to Bernie and Co.
Donald Trump will get a second term. One of the best Presidents ever in US history.
He walks the walk and talks the talk and has done wonders for the economy and international politics.
A breath of fresh air after the dull and boring Obama.
Powers that be suggest that Trump will be re-elected.
Wtf did I just watch
https://youtu.be/zuNiJF-eumw?t=5
@Patrick Cat #2: Skip to 18:00 if you have to
TLDR: So, Joe Biden is running. Discuss.
@John Considine: Creepy Joe.
@John Considine: Sarah Palin wiped the floor with him in a debate once. Sarah Palin ffs. I like Biden. I would hate to see what Trump would do to him.
This Beto guy changed his name to sound more hispânic, even though he’s white lol. It just shows how race, gender, sexuality obsessed the Dems have become. O’Rorke pretending to be hispânic, that other idiot pretending to be Indian. Guaranteed the next Dem Presidential race will be a “I’m more oppressed than you” affair. The candidate will almost certainly not be a white man.
@paul jones: You could not be more wrong.
@Enda McCallion: It’s consumed with identity politics and political correctness with a penchant for censorship, the Dems are far from liberal.
@paul jones: funny thing is, Beto was always referred to as Beto growing up, Ted Cruz changed his name to sound less Hispanic.
Bernie, Hiliary, Trump. And now Another septuagenarian. Joe may have been a good candidate back in 2008 but Americans really need to start adding some young blood to their picks for the person expected to run the country.
He needs to ask democratic party if it’s he’s turn like poor Bernie should have. Spot might be reserved by someone else the super delegates are told to nominate
Don’t the Dems have to decide who they’re putting forward first ? I’m sure a few more Dems will throw their name into the hat.
I’ll take Sanders thank you very much, they not need to swap one nut job for an older nut job
@Barry Zuckerkorn: Sanders is too old.
Beto!
In 2016 he’d have been an ok choice but not now they need someone new who Trump can’t pin to the Obama administration that he hates so much and has brainwashed into thinking was some sort of satanic circle of evil so there’s no way he’d win and we’d be stuck with Trump for a second term. It’s gotta be a new face, a young face and someone who isn’t as big corporate democrat as some of the supposed potential candidates. Lessons need to be learnt from 2016 and hell at this point I’d go as far as to say they could honestly take a risk and nominate someone young and fresh and different like Occasio-Cortez. Young yes and not an abundance of experience admittedly but Trump had zero political experience and he’s president now plus she has an easy to capitalise on woman of the people image
Anyone else see the video of Biden creepily fondling kids on camera?
Hopefully!
Beto! Beto! Beto!
Creepy joe !! The dirty paedophile. he’ll be joining his choc ice buddy, Obama, in Guantanamo by then
Tubridy said around a year ago that he taught he would run. I got him at 14/1 to be the Democrat nominee
have your say