Biden’s Decision Boosts Clinton And Sets Up A Two-Way Race With Sanders
By Paul Kane and Karen Tumulty October 21 at 5:00 PM
Vice President Biden’s announcement Wednesday that he will not seek the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination has given a further boost to resurgent frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton and clarified her terms of engagement with Bernie Sanders, who is waging a challenge from her left.
Biden ended months of speculation with his blunt acknowledgment that “the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president” has closed for him, as he and his distraught family have worked through their grief over the death in May of his eldest son, Beau.
“Unfortunately, I believe we are out of time — the time necessary to mount a campaign for the nomination,” Biden said as President Obama stood protectively by his side in the White House Rose Garden.
Polls indicate that, had Biden jumped in at this late stage, he would have drawn votes primarily from Clinton. The two come from the same center-left sector of the Democratic Party, have similar long-standing institutional ties and allegiances within the party and can both claim relevant national security and legislative experience.
The massive interest surrounding Biden’s deliberations had underscored Clinton’s significant vulnerabilities, as well as strengths — both in her quest for the nomination and in a general election contest.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-decides-against-a-2016-presidential-bid/2015/10/19/bfb58df8-7089-11e5-8248-98e0f5a2e830_story.html
