Biden supporters in Iowa look for decision soon on 2016 campaign

CEDAR RAPIDS - Time hasn't run out for Vice President Joe Biden to get into the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, 'but it's getting there,” according to Marc Moen, a Biden supporter back in 2008.

Moen, an Iowa City developer who hosted a campaign event for then-Sen. Biden in the 2008 election cycle, isn't supporting any of the five Democrats already in the race, 'but he (Biden) better hurry up.”

Many supporters of Biden's past presidential bids are of the same mind as speculation mounts that the 72-year-old Delaware Democrat is once again thinking about running for the White House.

'Personally, I would support Joe if he gets in,” said Maggie Elliott, an Iowa City retiree. 'I'm waiting for him to make a decision.”

Teri Hawks Goodmann, Dubuque assistant manager, thinks Biden would face challenges getting into the race now that Hillary Clinton has established herself as the front-runner. A Suffolk University poll released this month shows the former secretary of state with the support of 54 percent of likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers. Biden is third at 11 percent.

However, 'Our whole family is waiting,” she said, referring to her husband, John, and their daughter Ellen Goodmann Miller. Their preference is that he would run as he did in 1988 and 2008. Biden ended his 1988 campaign amid charges he plagiarized a British politician's speech. In 2008, he withdrew from the race after finishing fifth in the Iowa precinct caucuses.

Goodmann talked with the vice president at the funeral for his son, Beau, who died in May at age 46 after a two-year battle with brain cancer. She met with him again later, but doesn't know whether Biden will run.

It will be a family decision for Biden and his wife, Jill, and their children, she said.

'They're a unit. It will be a family endeavor if he runs,” Goodmann said. 'They are evaluating, the whole family, whether they have the heart and soul to undertake a campaign.”

Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire believes there's still room for Biden in the Iowa caucus campaign.

'The more people the better,” she said recently.

Bob Elliott would welcome Biden to the Democratic field.

'I have personally been less than enchanted with anyone I see on either the Democratic or Republican side,” said Elliott, who with his wife, Maggie, hosted a house party for Biden during the 2008 campaign. 'What we have heard and read has led us to believe that among the announced candidates, he would be our choice.”

Initially, Elliott hoped Biden wouldn't run because of the death of his son.

'But I think he has the experience, the knowledge and he tells it like it is,” Elliott said. 'I certainly think he is the one I would be willing to stand up and say ‘I believe he can do it.'”

However, for some Biden supporters it's already too late.

Cedar Rapids attorney Dave O'Brien, who also attended Beau Biden's funeral, backed Biden in 1988 and 2008 and thinks he would make a great president.

But he has endorsed Clinton. He's know the Clintons nearly as long as he's known Biden and ran the Clinton-Gore campaign in Iowa in 1992.

'I was on the sidelines' while being considered for a federal judicial appointment, O'Brien said, 'but when that didn't go through I reached out to the Biden folks to ask them if I need to keep my powder dry. I didn't hear from them, so I endorsed Clinton.”

O'Brien said it will break his heart not to be a part of the Biden campaign should it materialize, 'but my word is good and I will be a Hillary supporter.”

Retired Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin has weighed in, too, encouraging Biden not to challenge Clinton. Harkin, who served in the Senate with Biden for nearly 25 years, said the vice president shouldn't risk ending his career on a third failed presidential bid.

If Clinton is elected, Harkin added, she could appoint Biden to a diplomatic post.

Sara Riley is keeping her options open. A Biden supporter in the past, the Cedar Rapids attorney is supporting former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's bid for the nomination.

'I told O'Malley last summer that if Biden doesn't get in I would support him,” Riley said. 'They are well aware that if vice president gets in I will support him.”

As much as she would like to see him as president, Riley believes it's about 60-40 that Biden won't run.

Whether he runs or not, O'Brien said Democrats all will back whoever wins the general election nomination.

'In the meantime, we've got a little politicking to do,” he said.