Draft Biden: VP will continue to ‘stand up for all Americans’
The group that attempted to draft Vice President Biden into the presidential race is expressing gratitude for the “gigantic outpouring” of support it received.
Draft Biden, which had hoped to be part of a Biden presidential campaign, reacted quickly Wednesday after the vice president announced he will not seek the Democratic nomination in 2016.
{mosads}”We are so grateful for the gigantic outpouring of support from hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country in our effort to encourage the Vice President to run,” Will Pierce, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
“While the Vice President has decided not to run, we know that over the next year he will stand up for all Americans and articulate a vision for America’s future that will leave no one behind.”
It is unclear whether Draft Biden will disband and what it will do with the money it raised.
Biden’s decision not to run, announced Wednesday during a hastily scheduled press conference in the Rose Garden with President Obama and wife Jill Biden at his side, comes as a blow to the group that has amassed funds and staffers for a potential bid.
Draft Biden lined up an initial six-figure ad buy for a television advertisement titled “Never Quit” that aired during the first Democratic presidential debate last week. The advertisement featured Biden emphasizing the strength of the middle class.
The super-PAC pulled its initial advertisement, an emotional depiction of Biden’s story of the loss of his first wife and daughter in a car crash, after news reports indicated that the vice president did not want the ad to air.
Draft Biden pulled together strategists and organizers in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire as Biden publicly mulled a White House bid.
“While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent,” Biden said during his remarks at the White House, announcing he would not challenge front-runner Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the Democratic nomination.
“I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation,” Biden added.
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