Former VP Biden mulling another run for presidency
Joe Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden  is tiptoeing toward a potential presidential run in 2020  even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides.
Huddled in  his  newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol   Biden  began a planning meeting for  his  new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room.  He  said  he  was keeping  his  2020 options open  considering it a real possibility.  He  insisted  he  had made no decision  and didn't need to yet  according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did.
 Biden  also expressed interest in bringing those in the room onto  his  team if  he  decides to launch a campaign. At the same time   he  gave them an out: There would be no hard feelings if they decided they were content in their current roles outside of government  said the people  who demanded anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
The political world has long tried to game out  Biden 's plans for 2020. After all   he  came close to running last time only to see President Donald Trump pull off a victory that many Democrats openly suggest wouldn't have happened had  he   not Hillary Clinton  been their nominee. Several people came away from the meeting with the impression that if no strong Democratic candidate emerges in the next year or so   Biden  would feel strongly compelled to run.
A presidential candidate twice before   Biden  would be 78 on Inauguration Day if elected in 2020  a concerning prospect for some Democrats even though  he 's only a few years older than Trump. One possibility that  Biden 's longtime advisers have discussed privately is that  he  could announce  his  intention to serve only one term  clearing the path for  his  running mate to take over in 2024 and potentially setting up Democrats for a 12-year White House stretch.
 Biden 's brief discussion about  his  2020 deliberations came as  he  brought foreign policy staffers together to set the 2018 agenda for the newly opened Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement â where many of them are now working  including Colin Kahl  his vice presidential national security adviser  and Steve Ricchetti  his former chief of staff. Eli Ratner  his former deputy national security adviser  and Mike Carpenter  the former Pentagon and State Department official who's now the center's senior director  also attended  as did Julianne Smith  a  Biden  adviser in the Obama administration's first term who now works at the Center for a New American Security  a Washington think tank.
A  Biden  spokesman declined to comment. But in a recent NBC News interview   Biden  said  he 'd decide on running in 2020 based on whether it was "the right thing to do."
"I'm focused on one thing: electing a Democratic Congress to stop this erosion of the core of who we are  " Biden  said. "I'll look at that a year from now. I have plenty of time to consider whether or not to run."
The meeting was one of several signs that  Biden  is beginning to position  himself  as an alternative to Trump.  Biden  has started denouncing the current president's leadership more frequently in public  as  he  crisscrosses the United States and beyond to promote  his  new book   his  cancer initiative   his  new domestic policy institute in Delaware  the diplomacy center and  his  new political action committee  American Possibilities.
 He 's also been gearing up to play a major role campaigning for Democrats seeking to retake the House and Senate in the 2018 midterms.
"Donald Trump's looking out for Donald Trump. Republicans are looking out for Donald Trump. Who's looking out for everyone else?  Democrats " Biden  wrote in a recent fundraising pitch to the PAC's supporters.  He  said in 2018   he  would "beat a path all across this country to stand up for leaders who will stand up for all of us."
In 2015   Biden 's face was plastered across cable news channels and newspaper front pages for months as  he  carried out a lengthy deliberation about whether to challenge Clinton for the nomination. Ultimately   he  decided  he  and  his  family weren't in position to run so soon after  his  son  former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden  died from brain cancer earlier that year. Yet many Democrats have argued that  his  "everyman" brand and blue-collar appeal would make  him  particularly well-suited to challenge Trump.
[TGT] is tiptoeing toward a potential presidential run in 2020  even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides.
Huddled in   [TGT]   newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol    [TGT] began a planning meeting for   [TGT]   new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room.   [TGT]   said   [TGT]   was keeping   [TGT]   2020 options open  considering it a real possibility.   [TGT]   insisted   [TGT]   had made no decision  and didn't need to yet  according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did.
  [TGT] also expressed interest in bringing those in the room onto   [TGT]   team if   [TGT]   decides to launch a campaign. At the same time    [TGT]   gave them an out: There would be no hard feelings if they decided they were content in their current roles outside of government  said the people  who demanded anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
The political world has long tried to game out  Biden 's plans for 2020. After all   he  came close to running last time only to see President Donald Trump pull off a victory that many Democrats openly suggest wouldn't have happened had  he   not Hillary Clinton  been their nominee. Several people came away from the meeting with the impression that if no strong Democratic candidate emerges in the next year or so   Biden  would feel strongly compelled to run.
A presidential candidate twice before   Biden  would be 78 on Inauguration Day if elected in 2020  a concerning prospect for some Democrats even though  he 's only a few years older than Trump. One possibility that  Biden 's longtime advisers have discussed privately is that  he  could announce  his  intention to serve only one term  clearing the path for  his  running mate to take over in 2024 and potentially setting up Democrats for a 12-year White House stretch.
 Biden 's brief discussion about  his  2020 deliberations came as  he  brought foreign policy staffers together to set the 2018 agenda for the newly opened Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement â where many of them are now working  including Colin Kahl  his vice presidential national security adviser  and Steve Ricchetti  his former chief of staff. Eli Ratner  his former deputy national security adviser  and Mike Carpenter  the former Pentagon and State Department official who's now the center's senior director  also attended  as did Julianne Smith  a  Biden  adviser in the Obama administration's first term who now works at the Center for a New American Security  a Washington think tank.
A  Biden  spokesman declined to comment. But in a recent NBC News interview   Biden  said  he 'd decide on running in 2020 based on whether it was "the right thing to do."
"I'm focused on one thing: electing a Democratic Congress to stop this erosion of the core of who we are  " Biden  said. "I'll look at that a year from now. I have plenty of time to consider whether or not to run."
The meeting was one of several signs that  Biden  is beginning to position  himself  as an alternative to Trump.  Biden  has started denouncing the current president's leadership more frequently in public  as  he  crisscrosses the United States and beyond to promote  his  new book   his  cancer initiative   his  new domestic policy institute in Delaware  the diplomacy center and  his  new political action committee  American Possibilities.
 He 's also been gearing up to play a major role campaigning for Democrats seeking to retake the House and Senate in the 2018 midterms.
"Donald Trump's looking out for Donald Trump. Republicans are looking out for Donald Trump. Who's looking out for everyone else?  Democrats " Biden  wrote in a recent fundraising pitch to the PAC's supporters.  He  said in 2018   he  would "beat a path all across this country to stand up for leaders who will stand up for all of us."
In 2015   Biden 's face was plastered across cable news channels and newspaper front pages for months as  he  carried out a lengthy deliberation about whether to challenge Clinton for the nomination. Ultimately   he  decided  he  and  his  family weren't in position to run so soon after  his  son  former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden  died from brain cancer earlier that year. Yet many Democrats have argued that  his  "everyman" brand and blue-collar appeal would make  him  particularly well-suited to challenge Trump.