April 15 (UPI) — Former Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday he hasn’t ruled out making a 2020 presidential bid.
Biden told MSNBC host Al Sharpton he is open to making a presidential run in 2020, but wouldn’t presently accept a Democratic Party nomination if offered.
“I’ve been honest about this. If the Lord Almighty, Al, came down and said, ‘the nomination is yours now, you have to accept it now,’ I would not, because it would be too much more to get done,” Biden said.
He acknowledged he must make the decision to run before the end of this year, but said he hoped the Democratic Party would nominate another candidate capable of winning the election.
“I’m really hoping that some other folks step up. I think we have some really good people,” Biden said.
“These polls are showing me winning and all this stuff. You and I both know that don’t mean a thing until you’re in the green,” he added.
Biden said former President Barack Obama advised him to only decline a nomination if he believed another candidate from the party could win the election.
“I’ve got to be able to look in the mirror and if I walk away knowing — not walking away because I’m afraid or I’m worried about losing or that I just don’t want to take on the responsibility,” Biden said. “I’ve got to walk away knowing that it is, there’s somebody who can do it and can win because we’ve got to win. We’ve got to win in 2020.”
Biden added he also wanted to focus on “putting my family back together,” after his son Beau died following a battle with Cancer in 2015.
“Look, no man has a right to go say,’Help me become president,'” Biden said. “Unless I can look at you and say you’ve got my whole heart, my whole soul, all of my passion, all my attention.”
