For several hours on Sunday, Twitter was buzzing with the (soon retracted) news that Joe Biden had told a reporter that his son was out of the running for the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.
The "Biden is out" story, despite its rather brief shelf life, did call a great deal of attention to the fact that Beau Biden was still on the fence, despite the fact that the conventional wisdom had been that Biden would enter the Senate race shortly after his return from Iraq last Fall.
Biden is now apparently off of the fence:
I understand why people care so deeply about this election. The challenges we’re facing as a country are extraordinarily difficult. The economy. Jobs. Health care. Energy. Education. Climate change. Financial regulation. Foreign policy. These are not only the issues of the moment – they’re the issues that will determine our children’s future. And as someone who has had the privilege of serving with the bravest men and women on this planet, I care deeply about how we treat our returning veterans and how we resolve our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I feel strongly about these issues. However, my first responsibilities are here in Delaware. I have a duty to fulfill as Attorney General – and the immediate need to focus on a case of great consequence. And that is what I must do. Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010. I will run for reelection as Attorney General.
Ironically, Sunday's errant phone conversation, reported by Wilmington News-Journal columnist Harry Themal, made the either mistaken or prescient claim that Beau Biden was disinterested in making a bid for the Senate.
The source, allegedly, was none other than Joe Biden.
Our conversation ended with a surprising request from the vice president as he hurried off to a national security meeting. Spontaneously, he turned to the possible Delaware senatorial campaign of his son Beau.
Biden: "If you run into Beau, talk him into running; he respects you."
Me: "I don't think he wants to run, though."
Biden: "I don't think he does either. I know he doesn't want to. ... I'm so proud of the job he's done [as attorney general]."
There was only one problem. Themal got the transcript of the interview wrong:
The vice president’s office contacted ABC News to say that Vice President Joe Biden was talking about convincing his interim replacement, Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) to run for a full term -- not, as the News Journal reported, his son, Beau.
A spokeswoman for the vice president provided this transcript of the conversation, and played [ABC's Rick Klein] the audio of the vice president’s end of the conversation. The audio confirms the transcript.
This led the News Journal to have to issue a painful correction later in the afternoon: "An earlier version of Harry Themal's column incorrectly said Vice President Biden said his son, Attorney General Beau Biden, did not want to run for the U.S. Senate. Vice President Biden was referring to Sen. Ted Kaufman, who currently holds the seat and has said he will not run for the seat in the November election."
Unfortunately for Democrats, having the spotlight on Delaware, even if for a few hours, undoubtedly put pressure on Beau Biden to make his plans public, since he had been mum for a handful of months. Thus, in all likelihood, this morning's quick declaration that he would seek to stay on as Attorney General.
The worst news for Democrats also comes from the Biden/Themal interview: Plan B also appears to be on the shelf. After all, the amended version of the Themal/Biden call seems to make it clear that appointed Senator Ted Kauffman is also not interested in making the race. This puts a Democratic Senate seat in serious jeopardy, despite the Democratic lean of the state and the deep Democratic bench found in Delaware.