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Biden reportedly closer than ever to running in 2016

Clinton’s opponents are led by the independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, the only candidate to score even relatively close to her in the polls.

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Those who are pushing Biden to do it argue that his supporting role in the Obama administration has added to his stature and gravitas.

The New York Times reports Biden is quietly testing the waters, and could decide whether to run for president by September.

While Biden has done little to lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign, he has maintained a loyal network of political advisers and has gone out of his way to stay in contact with longtime supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Beau Biden, who was always a big supporter of his father’s political career, passed away from brain cancer on May 13.

Lynne Sladky/AP Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman said “there will always be room” for Biden if he chose to run for President.

Jumping into the race so late in the game is likely to bring some obstacles, despite the fact that Biden has higher favorability than any other candidate in the race, including Clinton.

Biden’s advisers told ABC News that “his political team has been ramping up in recent days, entering what they call a more active phase”, according to the program This Week.

Some of those who have reached out have also urged him to run for president, aides say. In the early months of the 2016 campaign, the president has been careful not to undermine or wholeheartedly endorse either his former secretary of state or his vice president. Establishment Democrats view Sanders as unelectable in a general election, so in this context a Joe Biden candidacy is a backup plan in case Hillary Clinton implodes.

A New York Times columnist reported on Sunday that his son Beau Biden, who died in May, at the end of his life encouraged his father to run for the US presidency.

“I believe that is more concerning the unpleasant indicators from Hillary Clinton in March, imploding before a panel in Congress a lot more than it’s a love for Biden”, Mr. Jones said.

In a press release this weekend, the vice chairman’s spokesperson would exclusively say, “Because the Biden household continues to undergo this troublesome time, the vice chairman is concentrated on his household and immersed in his work”.

“I think that Biden would have a good chance at beating her now”, Donald Trump, the leading contender in the Republican race, told CBS television.

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In recent weeks those talks, with local elected officials and party leaders, started again, mostly because well-wishers were calling to check on the Biden family. “This is his time to figure it out”.

Clinton recorded her worst favorability score ever in a Quinnipiac survey