VP hints at son's Senate bid

Alexander Burns
Thu Oct 15

Hours after Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden confirmed he was considering a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2010, Vice President Joe Biden sounded confident his son would launch a campaign for the seat he held for 36 years.

Appearing Thursday at a fundraiser in Missouri for Senate candidate Robin Carnahan, Biden alluded to Carnahan's political roots as he suggested his son would contend for higher office, too.

"I find it a hell of a lot harder to watch my kid run," Biden told his audience, than to run for office himself.

Biden turned to Carnahan's mother, former Sen. Jean Carnahan, and said: "I may need a little bit of advice from you."

The vice president's son was a candidate for public office in 2006, when he first won election as attorney general, so Vice President Biden already has some experience watching his son on the campaign trail. If Beau Biden jumps into the 2010 race, he will join Robin Carnahan as one of the midterm election's most promising dynastic stars.

Robin Carnahan's mother served in the Senate alongside Biden for two years, beginning in 2001 when she was appointed to the Senate seat her husband, former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, won just days after perishing in a plane crash.

Earlier Thursday, Vice President Biden's son appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said he was "absolutely" thinking about running for his father's former Senate seat, currently held by Democratic Sen. Ted Kaufman, who has pledged not to run for reelection next year.

Unlike his father, however, the Delaware attorney general, who just returned from a stint in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard, stopped well short of a firm declaration that he would run.

"I have been away from my family for a year," he said. "I'm gonna, first things first, make sure I focus on my family, focus on my job."

"Look, am I considering it? Absolutely. Absolutely," Biden acknowledged. "I'll be making a decision in due course."

A poll released Thursday by the liberal website Daily Kos showed that a race between Beau Biden and Republican Congressman Mike Castle, who declared his candidacy last week, would be highly competitive. In the Daily Kos survey, Castle led Biden by just one point, 46 percent to 45 percent.

Political analysts have suggested a contest between Biden and Castle would be one of the most closely matchups of the midterm election. Some have speculated that Biden might be having second thoughts about running against a popular former governor and longtime member of Congress.