Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Friday he asked his 2008 running mate, former President Barack Obama, to hold off endorsing his newly announced presidential bid because he wanted to win on his own.
“I didn’t want it to look like he was putting his thumb on the scale here. I’m going to do this based on who I am, not by the president going out and trying to say, ’This is the guy’ you should be with. That’s why I asked him not to. I’m incredibly proud to have served with him,” the Delaware Democrat said on ABC’s “The View.”
This echoed comments he said to a pool of reporters Thursday at a train station.
“I asked President Obama not to endorse, and he doesn’t want to. … Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits,” Mr. Biden said.
When asked about why he’s the best candidate for the Democrats, Mr. Biden answered: “that will be for the Democrats to decide.”
Despite this claim about Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden’s campaign has been using imagery with the former president for donation advertisements.
CNN reported a close adviser said Mr. Obama “believes that a robust primary in 2007 and 2008 not only made him a better election candidate but a better president, too.”
“Because of that, it is unlikely he will throw his support behind a specific candidate this early in the primary process, preferring instead to let the candidates make their cases directly to voters,” the adviser continued.
Mr. Biden became the 20th high-profile Democrat to enter the already crowded field to challenge Mr. Trump in the 2020 election.
While the former vice president wasn’t successful in his bids for president in 1988 and 2008, Mr. Biden has consistently been the front-runner in polls, sometimes double digits ahead of second-place Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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