Joe Biden says he's open to running for president if 'no one steps up'

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last updated 13 November 2017

When it comes to running for president in 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden said he's "just not sure if it's the appropriate thing for me to do," but he isn't afraid to throw his hat into the ring if necessary.

In an interview with Snapchat's "Good Luck America," set for release on Tuesday and previewed by The Associated Press on Sunday, Biden, who ran for president in 1998 and 2008, said he wants to help cultivate new leaders in the Democratic Party but is open to running again if "no one steps up. I'm not doing anything to run. I'm not taking names, I'm not raising money, I'm not talking to anybody, but something's got to happen."

Biden, 74, did consider running in 2016, but was left reeling by the death of his son, Beau, from brain cancer, and decided against it. He told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that aired Sunday on her network he is a "great respecter of fate," and while he's healthy now, "I don't know ... what things are going to be two years from now. ... I promise you ... I'm going to go out there and continue to do what I've done since I've been 26 years old: holler."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.