For more than a week, momentum appears to have been building behind an effort to construct a campaign infrastructure for Joe Biden’s eleventh hour launch.
But in a conference call with DNC members Wednesday, Biden gave the first indication in weeks that he might not be up to the task.
The call was intended for Biden to pitch the bonafides of the nuclear deal with Iran, which remains on the ropes in the Senate. But during the call, he was asked about the potential for a White House bid.
Citing his family’s ongoing struggles with the death of his son, Beau, Biden detailed, “I have to be able to commit to all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my whole soul, and right now, both are pretty well banged up.”
But he went on to say that he has given the subject “a lot of thought” and that he is working through the subject with his family on “how we do this.”
Whether the comments were orchestrated to keep speculation at bay while he builds more support or that he genuinely is undecided is a question that will fuel further conjecture in the coming weeks as the window for announcement begins to close ahead of the first Democrat debate in October.