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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2010/10/20/definitely_biden_for_vp_in_2012/

Definitely Biden for VP in 2012

DAVID AXELROD can’t hide his exasperation.

As he sits in the lobby of Sheraton Boston, yet another story flashes across a nearby TV screen about the speculation that Hillary Clinton could replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket in 2012.

The notion that President Obama might tap Clinton as his running mate next time around took on new life with the publication of “Obama’s Wars,’’ Bob Woodward’s new book. In Woodward’s telling, Clinton adviser Mark Penn listed that possibility in urging Clinton to join the administration. If she accepted Obama’s invitation to become secretary of state, the president might make her his running mate if he found himself in electoral trouble as his reelection bid approached, Penn supposedly reasoned. Woodward fanned the embers further when CNN’s John King asked about a possible job swap, with Clinton running for VP in 2012 and Biden taking over at Foggy Bottom.

“It’s on the table,’’ replied Woodward.

The White House quickly debunked the idea, and Woodward has since tiptoed back, essentially saying he only meant to suggest that such a move was possible, not that it was actually being contemplated. Still, the speculation has proved as resilient as bamboo, a popular topic for ponder-and-maunder “news’’ shows in Mobius-strip coverage mode.

Now, Obama’s top political adviser sounds like a man trying to extirpate it once and for all. “There’s not a chance in the world that the president of the United States would run for reelection without Joe Biden because Joe Biden has been a superb vice president,’’ said Axelrod. “He’s been a great counselor. He’s taken on every difficult assignment we’ve asked him to take on, whether it was being the liaison in Iraq or running the recovery act, and he’s done it splendidly. And he’s a beloved figure around the White House.’’

Yesterday, Obama himself addressed the speculation, calling it “completely unfounded’’ in an interview with National Journal and saying that both Biden and Clinton were doing “outstanding jobs where they are.’’ That comes atop his Friday declaration that “the single best decision that I have made was selecting Joe Biden as my running mate.’’

So, just to remove any vestige of doubt: If Biden wants to be on the ticket in 2012, he’s on the ticket in 2012?

“There’s no question about it,’’ Axelrod said. “This is a partnership that’s really worked. The president relies on Biden, and Biden has been incredibly supportive of the president.’’

It’s clear, meanwhile, that Biden wants to stay. In a recent interview with the New York Times, he made it a point to note that Obama had already talked to him about running again in 2012. “[H]e said, ‘We’re going to run together, are you going to run?’ I said, ‘Of course, you want me to run with you, I’m happy to run with you,’ ’’ Biden told the Times.

“He’s been the happy warrior,’’ Axelrod noted. A happy warrior who has added a lot, substantively and politically. Besides being a counselor wise in the ways of the world, the gregarious VP is an energetic campaigner who connects with work-a-day voters in a way that a more cerebral president sometimes doesn’t.

Although it’s a mistake to call any politician egoless, Biden has harnessed his own healthy amour-propre to the needs of the team. And though critics love to pounce on his occasional gaffes, they are usually relatively harmless missteps that serve mostly to underline his authenticity.

Finally, there’s the reality of age and ambition. Biden will be 74 in November of 2016, which means his presidential hopes will be a thing of the past. That’s not quite so with Clinton, who will be 69 that fall. It’s hard to see how ditching a well-liked team player for a figure who would add the polarizing storyline of a possible Clinton restoration to the 2012 race would help Obama. That calculus is one more reason to take Axelrod at his word.

In the end, however, it reduces to this: Biden has proved his value. He deserves to stay — and there’s nothing beyond will-o’-the-whispers to suggest he won’t.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.

© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.


Eric D. Schwerin
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