Vice President Joe Biden might say he is undecided on a presidential run, but his travel schedule suggests otherwise.
Biden will travel to New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state on Feb, 25 to highlight the Obama administration’s economic policies and participate in a roundtable discussion about education and community colleges. By making the trip to the Granite State, Biden will have visited the first three presidential nominating states in less than a month.
The Vice President visited Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation caucus, earlier in February, delivering a speech on the economy, touring a community college and visiting a local coffee shop. Earlier this week, Biden spent a day in South Carolina, the third state in the presidential nomination order.
Both visits fueled 2016 speculation and Biden’s New Hampshire visit is sure to do the same.
The Vice President has said that he hasn’t made up his mind about a presidential campaign, but conceded in January that “there’s a chance” he would challenge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is all but certain to seek the Democratic nomination.
In Iowa, Biden said that his trip was not meant to test the presidential waters, adding that running for president is “a family personal decision that I am going to make sometime in the end of the summer.”
During his speech at Drake University in Iowa, he also urged 2016 Democrats – which he could be a part of – to run on the Obama administration’s record.
“In my view, those seeking to lead the nation,” Biden said, should “own what we has done. Stand for what we have done. Acknowledge what we have done. And be judged on what we have done.”
Raymond Buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said that he was excited for Biden’s visit because he “can talk to a segment of the electorate that is more blue-collar, more working class, one that he really resonates with.”
“Whether he runs or not, I hope that he has a very full schedule of travel,” Buckley said. “That is up to him to decide, if he chooses to run, I am sure he will run an excellent campaign.”
