Speculation rife over Biden joining 2016 U.S. presidential race

The letter comes after reports that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s strong performance in the first Democratic presidential made it more hard for Biden to enter the race and rationalize a campaign. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., urged former Biden staffer to be ready.

He explained in the letter, which was first obtained by the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press, how Biden would launch a positive campaign focusing on the revival of the middle class, according to Yahoo News.

We don’t know if Vice President Biden will run for president, but here’s one sign that he might.

To its recipients – Biden’s former Senate, White House and campaign staffers – Thursday’s letter smacked of an unambiguous indication Biden was all but green-lighting a presidential campaign.

As New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman pointed out on Friday, much of the analysis over whether Biden “missed his window” assumes that he’s deciding whether to run for president. “It will not surprise you, as it does not surprise me, what he will weigh in the decision and what – being Joe Biden – he will not”.

“If Vice President Biden wants to enter and compete for the presidency, then it is time he make that decision”, John Podesta, the chair of the Clinton campaign, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday, in a notable shift in rhetoric. “I don’t have to share my views about that right now because I think it’s important for the American people to make up their own decisions”.

The letter did not provide specific policy details, but said it would be “A campaign from the heart”.

“The problem with Biden is although he’s been around a long time, they have the same old power connections that have always been there”, said Jim W. Dean, the managing editor at Veterans Today. Nothing Biden has said publicly in recent weeks suggested an affirmative answer, but he has not addressed the issue directly since before the visit to the United States by Pope Francis last month. The similarities between front-runner Hillary Clinton and Biden rob him of an opening in the race for the nomination. “I think Joe will go down as one of the finest vice presidents in history and one of the more consequential”, Obama said. He has had little interaction with a “draft Biden” group pushing him to run, and has yet to look for office space in early voting states or raise money for a potential bid.

Clinton herself said in an interview with The Boston Globe that she had discussed the campaign with Biden a few months ago.

Biden also didn’t participate in the first Democratic presidential-election debate, giving other candidates more exposure to a national audience. If he does run, it won’t be because not enough people around him signaled that he can make it happen.