Vice President Joe Biden may be angling for a job promotion, according to The New York Times. He hasn't formally announced any plans to run for President, but his advisers have reportedly been working behind the scenes to secure financial and Democratic party support in recent weeks. And though it might seem late in the game for Biden to announce a 2016 presidential bid, he's has more pressing — and downright tragic — matters at home to attend to, mourning the recent loss of his oldest son Beau Biden who died in June from brain cancer at age 46.
If the rumors are true, Biden is making good on a promise. Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported that a possible presidential run would fulfill a deathbed promise Biden made to Beau, along with added encouragement from his younger son Hunter.
"[Beau] tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values," Dowd wrote.
Lawyer and Biden supporter Michael Thornton also corroborated Beau's posthumous impact on the Vice President possibly vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"He was so close to Beau and it was so heartbreaking that, frankly, I thought initially he wouldn’t have the heart,” Thornton told The New York Times. “But I’ve had indications that maybe he does want to — and ‘that’s what Beau would have wanted me to do.’ ”
Of course, if Biden goes forward with a campaign, he would immediately face a familiar and well-funded White House opponent: Hillary Clinton. But Biden's deep-pocketed friends and political allies combined with Clinton's dipping approval ratings could make him a serious contender to move desks to the Oval Office.
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