Biden travels to Washington for private political meetings

CNN first reported the meeting Saturday afternoon, after which an administration official declined to comment about the meeting but acknowledged that Biden made an unplanned trip to the capital.

Much of the deliberation has taken place this week at the Bidens’ house in a secluded, wooded suburb of Wilmington, said several Biden aides, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the meetings publicly.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met on Saturday with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a popular progressive leader with a big support base among Democrats, as he mulls whether to run for president, according to a source familiar with the matter.

A rising star in the party, Warren was the subject of an intense lobbying campaign by a group called Draft Warren that sought to persuade her to enter the race.

In the last month a draft Biden committee has been working more aggressively to promote a potential candidacy. Instead, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), the independent with socialist leanings, has emerged as Clinton’s only strong challenger so far, leaving a vacuum for some liberal activists who respect Sanders but question whether the 73-year-old’s rumpled style could translate into a national victory.

Spending time with Biden in Delaware has been longtime Biden confidantes Mike Donilon and former Sen. Ted Kaufman have spent time there, along with Biden’s grandson, Hunter Biden, and his sister, Valerie Owens Biden, who has played a top role in all his previous campaigns. He planned to fly back to Delaware after the meeting.

Though Biden has but to decide, his advisers say the vice chairman and his associates have began gaming out mechanics like fundraising, poll deadlines and an early main state technique.

Biden’s team is expected to announce in September whether he is going to run. He’ll need at least two full months to get the petition signatures and delegates lined up by the beginning of December to qualify for the ballot in early primary states.

Biden’s aides are also eyeing the first Democratic primary debate – on October 13 – as potentially a make-or-break moment. In any case, most of the celebration’s prime fundraisers are already dedicated to Clinton. However the trappings of his present job make campaigning extraordinarily costly for Biden.

If Biden does mount a run for president, the cost of flying him from event to event on Air Force Two would come under scrutiny, as political travel for sitting presidents running for re-election has for decades.

It stays to be seen whether or not Biden might appeal to sufficient main donors and bundlers to fund a aggressive marketing campaign. After all, numerous party’s top fundraisers are already committed to Clinton.

Joe Biden seems to be readying himself for a Presidential campaign.