Debate Podium Awaits Joe Biden, With or Without Him
— -- Joe Biden does not plan to participate in the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night, but the invitation remains open to the vice president should he make a last-minute decision to jump in the race and join his would-be Democratic rivals on the debate stage.
The debate hosts have even gone so far as to set aside an extra podium for the VP.
While all indications are that the reserved podium will go unused Tuesday night, the political world is watching in anticipation as the vice president continues a debate of his own, within the privacy of his Delaware home, in deliberating whether to mount a White House bid.
It had been expected that Biden would convene a family meeting to reach his final decision this weekend, which is why a pack of journalists have spent the weekend staking out the vice president's Delaware home, looking for any clue of the anticipated meeting.
But two days, several motorcade chases and a couple of stops at sporting events for Biden’s grandchildren later, the vice president's weekend activities have offered no real insight into the status of his deliberations.
Hallie Biden, the widow of the vice president’s late son, Beau, was spotted by reporters pulling into the VP’s driveway Sunday evening, but there has been no indication of a full-court family meeting, at least not yet.
On Saturday, he went to a cross-country meet for his granddaughter and a flag football game for his grandson. And on Sunday, he went golfing.
So far today, the vice president has not ventured from his home, with the only activity at the end of Biden's driveway being the occasional Secret Service vehicle leaving or returning to the property.
When one reporter attempted to broach the topic of 2016 with Biden, 72, at his granddaughter's cross-country meet Saturday, the vice president made clear he was in no mood to talk politics.
“Get out of my way, will you?” the vice president replied sarcastically, pushing past the cluster of cameras and returning to join his family and stretching with his granddaughter Natalie as she readied for her race at the starting line.
The closest the VP has come to running all weekend was when he jogged alongside his granddaughter as she pushed across the finish line in Saturday's race.
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