Vice President Joe Biden's appearance at an annual steak-fry fundraiser held by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has Washington insiders wondering of the veep might be considering a run for the presidency in 2016, according to Politico.
"The president and I have had a laser focus on one thing: raising up the middle class," Biden said. "The measure of success of our administration will be whether or not the middle class is growing and the things that allow it to grow, and allow it to feel some security, are able to be put in place again."
Sen. Harkin has been holding the steak-fry fundraiser for 36 years. Iowa is one of the first battlegrounds in the presidential primaries as their caucuses are the very first event on the road to picking a candidate for the election. While Biden is noncommittal about whether or not he plans to run for the Democratic nomination for a third time, he was unsuccessful in 1988 and 2008, it would serve him well to get to know Iowa and let Iowa get to know him if he plans on running, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"I know a lot of people want to read a lot of stuff into this," Harkin said about Biden's appearance. "This is just a favor for an old friend."
In his remarks Biden spoke about how the Obama administration went from supporting military involvement in Syria to the agreement struck with Russia over the weekend to disarm Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons arsenal to a crowd in the largely anti-war state, according to the Washington Post.
"The president's vision is absolutely clear," Biden said. "He, in fact, is the reason why the world community is facing up finally - finally - to this hideous prospect of the largest stockpile in the world of chemical weapons being confiscated and destroyed."
Biden also discussed when he came out in support of same-sex marriage, an endorsement that was seen as a political gaffe since his support forced the president to also make an endorsement before he was ready to do so, to the state that is one of the 13 states that allow same-sex marriage, according to Politico.
"A lot of people criticized me for speaking out, not long ago, about gay marriage," Biden said. "I could not remain silent any longer. It's the civil rights of our day. It's the issue of our day."
If Biden were to run in 2016 he would more than likely be facing another former member of the Obama administration; former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is thought to be the Democratic front runner for 2016. Like Biden, Clinton has not formerly announced her intentions for 2016.
