Joe Biden will decide if he is running for President ‘by August’
Vice President Joe Biden will either announce he is running for President or rule himself out before August, sources say.
The Democrat, who has been Vice President under Barack Obama since 2008, has been one of the strongest and most consistent voices for LGBT equality in Obama’s White House.
The gaffe-prone politician famously forced the President’s hand on same-sex marriage by backing it himself in May 2012, while Obama was still officially ‘evolving’ on the issue.
A book last year claimed that “chaos erupted inside the West Wing” after news of Biden’s comments – and within days Obama had also come out in favour of same-sex marriage.
Lightning struck again when the VP backed an executive order banning anti-LGBT workplace discrimination last year, after the President had already rebuffed calls for executive action.
Mr Biden got his way on that occasion as well, with Obama reversing his position again and signing an order just two months later.
The Delaware Democrat has today signalled that he has not ruled out a run for President himself in 2016 – with a source telling the US News & World Report that he would make his mind up by August.
His decision was reportedly delayed by the illness and tragic death of his son Beau Biden last month.
Unless Mr Biden runs, Hillary Clinton is considered a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination. Other declared candidates include Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee, but only the Sanders campaign has garnered any serious attention.
The Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funeral of Beau Biden earlier this month.
