Elections

Ex-Senator Who Backs Hillary Is Trying To Talk Biden Out Of Running For President

(Mannie Garcia/Bloomberg News via Getty Images)

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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A popular retired senator who has endorsed Hillary Clinton is suggesting that Vice President Joe Biden should take a demotion of sorts rather than challenge the former secretary of state for the White House.

Iowa’s Tom Harkin discouraged Biden against running for president on Wednesday, according to The New York Times, saying that his former Senate colleague could take a different job in a Clinton White House.

“He has served the country so well and been a good friend of mine — I love Joe,” Harkin told The Times. “I just don’t think this would be a wise move.”

He added that there were “other ways Joe can serve the country.”

Harkin and Biden served in the U.S. Senate between 1985 and 2009, when Biden left for the White House. Biden entered the Senate in 1973.

“With Hillary as president, I can see him being secretary of state or ambassador to the United Nations,” Harkin said. “There are a lot of things he can do down the road that would be of valuable service to the country or the world.”

Harkin did not address another possibility — that Clinton could offer Biden a diplomatic position even if he challenges her and fails.

Harkin’s plea comes after the White House heaped praise on Biden earlier this week.

When asked whether President Obama would endorse either Clinton or Biden, White House press secretary Josh Earnest declined to weigh in but did say that he could potentially endorse a Democrat during the primary. Earnest also offered what was interpreted by many observers as a quasi-endorsement for the 72-year-old Biden. He said that Obama considers the decision to tap Biden as his running mate was the best political decision he’s made.

Clinton is seen as an increasingly vulnerable candidate as her use of a private email server is now being investigated by the FBI.

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