Over the past few months there has been much speculation regarding whether or not Vice President Joe Biden will be running in the 2016 Presidential Elections. However, Biden is coming down to the wire with only nine days left to announce his decision of running for presidency.
This first deadline for the candidates is in Georgia on October 29th. Candidates must submit a letter of their candidacy to the state parties and, although the state's executive committee can choose to include candidates after the deadline, missing said deadline puts a candidate at a significant disadvantage. Additionally, qualifying for the ballot it no easy task. Most states require signatures from all congressional districts and while this may be easy to achieve in some states, if the candidate gives enough money to the state, in others it can be challenging. In 2008, Clinton almost missed the Virginia deadline because she did not have enough signatures.
There has been some implication recently that Biden does intend to run. Just today Biden interviewed with CNN and made clear exactly how involved he has been in Obama's decision making. He even made statements addressing Hillary Clinton that easily can be seen as him asserting himself above a potential rival. Specifically, he spoke of his involvement with the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and his story countered previous retellings made by Clinton. Clinton has been known for saying that is was she who made the decision with Obama to proceed with the raid. However in today's interview Biden makes clear that he was the last to speak with Obama before they agreed to go ahead with the mission. In fact, Biden claims that he knew about the raid long before Clinton or any of the cabinet members had been informed. Releasing this new information on how important he has been in Obama's presidency can be interpreted as self-promotion and a possible indicator of announcing his candidacy.
Additionally, President Obama has spoken very passionately of the qualification of Biden when asked his opinion on whether or not he will run. He has boasted that choosing Biden as his vice president was the "smartest decision he's ever made in politics," even better than naming Clinton secretary of state. While Obama does remain neutral when asked the question "Biden or Clinton?" with a response of "I love 'em both. Good try," he nonetheless seems to be promoting Biden more than Clinton.
To say the least, everyone is eager to find out Biden's final decision.
Will Biden run for 2016 Presidency? When will he announce his candidacy? Will he wait and risk not being on all of the ballots? If he does run, how do you think he will do?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/20/politics/joe-biden-decision-timing-deadline/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/20/politics/joe-biden-osama-bin-laden-raid/
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As of yesterday Biden has officially stated that he will not be running for president in this up coming election. He cites that the reason for this, as the 'window for a successful campaign has closed' - that Clinton has already amassed so much strength already as well as Bernie Sanders, that it would be hard to come in. Biden also made note of his families grieving process after the sudden passing of his son, Beau. Within this announcement he made sure to demonstrate his defense of the Obama legacy, as well as staunch Democratic values (ones that had he run, would have been the basis of his campaign). As a result of Biden's decision, this places Hillary Clinton in a much stronger position to win the Democratic nomination. Biden made sure to address Clinton in his speech as well, specifically calling her out for naming Republicans as her enemies, stating, "I believe that we have to end the divisive partisan politics that are ripping this country apart, and I think we can." He even went on to say that they (Democrats) should not Republicans as their enemies, but instead as their opposition - that "for the sake of this country, we have to work together" - specifically addressing the growing division in Congress. Biden also went on to mention that even though he will not be running, he will not be keeping silent. He stated that he fully intends to "speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation". It will be interesting to see the active role Biden plays in this upcoming year, and the impact that his support will have on the public.
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