Is Biden Going To Run For President?

In a sign he may be eyeing the White House once again, Vice President Joe Biden is set to be the keynote speaker at Senator Tom Harkin's (D-IA) annual steak fry fundraiser next month. The fundraiser is known as a stomping ground for those aspiring to be president.

Biden's office is trying to downplay the trip, saying he is fulfilling a "long-standing commitment" to attend Harkin's event. But before you consider the (rather obvious) differences between being a guest at an event and being the event's keynote speaker, available evidence points definitively toward a Biden presidential bid in 2016.

The vice president has made a number of visits to early primary-voting states. Biden has already visited Iowa this year. He went to South Carolina in May, speaking at a Democratic dinner there.

Biden previously attended the steak fry in 2007 during his run for the 2008 nomination, along with the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and Bill Richardson. (Just, you know, almost the entire Democratic primary pool.) A year earlier, the event marked then-freshman Senator Barack Obama's Iowa debut.

As the Washington Post points out, Biden is essentially marking his place at the front of the line should Hillary Clinton choose not to run. Can we also point out that he's 70 years old to her 65, and so far there hasn't been nearly as much commentary about his age?