A sense of doubt has crept into President Joe Biden's inner circle about his appetite for launching a re-election campaign.
Biden and his family have previously dragged out deliberations on a 2024 presidential campaign to painstaking lengths, but a February deadline offered by advisers has come and gone -- in part due to his visit to Kyiv over the weekend -- and now they're looking to April for him to reach a decision, reported Politico.
“An inertia has set in,” said one Biden confidant. “It’s not that he won’t run, and the assumption is that he will. But nothing is decided, and it won’t be decided until it is.”
Nearly everyone in his orbit believes the 80-year-old Biden will ultimately decide to run, but the delay has paused plans for other White House aspirants -- including Democratic governors Gavin Newsom in California, Phil Murphy in New Jersey and JB Pritzker in Illinois, as well as senators Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders.
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“Without being overly aggressive, everyone’s still keeping the motor running just in case and they’re not being bashful about it,” said one Democratic donor. “On the phone, everyone is very clear and has the same sentence up front: ‘If Joe Biden is running, no one will work harder than me, but if he’s not, for whatever reason, we just want to make sure we’re prepared for the good of the party.”
Some allies have been surprised that Biden hardly ever discusses a possible campaign, according to three sources familiar with the conversations, and while first lady Jill Biden has signaled her support for another run, some in his orbit wonder whether the Republican investigations into Hunter Biden have cooled his interest.
“Obviously, it creates doubts and problems if he waits and waits and waits,” said Democratic strategist Mark Longabaugh, who believes Biden will announce soon. “But if he were to somehow not declare ‘til June or something, I think some people would be stomping around.”
“There would be a lot of negative conversation … among Democratic elites, and I just think that would force them to ultimately have to make a decision,” Longabaugh added. “I just don’t think he can dance around until sometime in the summer.”
