海角大神

Joe Biden is in Iowa Thursday. Officially, he鈥檚 talking about administration education policies at several stops. Unofficially, he鈥檚 ... well, we don鈥檛 really know what he鈥檚 doing unofficially. When a national-level politician visits Iowa at this point in the election cycle, it is traditional to speculate that he or she might run for president. But it鈥檚 getting harder to say that about President Obama鈥檚 loyal veep.

Look, Mr. Biden is in a tough spot. He wants to be president: He鈥檚 already run for the office, twice. He probably hums 鈥淗ail to the Chief鈥� when he鈥檚 hanging around his man cave in the VP mansion on the weekend. He knows that vice presidents are supposed to be a political party鈥檚 next-in-line. He may find the prospect of bowing out to be humiliating.

And maybe he will run again. He talks as if he might. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 made up my mind about that.... There鈥檚 plenty of time,鈥� he ABC鈥檚 George Stephanopoulos last month.

Except there isn鈥檛 plenty of time. Everybody else who wants to be president is already running. They鈥檝e set up fundraising committees, hired staff, and begun to float policy positions. Biden has done none of those things.

鈥淏ehind the scenes ... there are few signs the vice president is taking steps toward mounting a third bid for the top job at the White House,鈥� Josh Lederman of the Associated Press.

So why is he keeping up the charade? Why go to Iowa to promote Mr. Obama鈥檚 plan for free community college tuition? They鈥檝e got community colleges in Florida, too, and the weather is better.

For one thing, he might be trying to preserve what influence he has in Washington. He has to act as if he鈥檚 going to run for as long as he can fake it, goes this view, because when it becomes apparent there is no chance of a President Biden, he鈥檒l be less effective as an administration surrogate. He鈥檒l get less press coverage, fewer returned phone calls, and so on.

He also might be trying to position himself as the Democratic Party鈥檚 Plan B. Hillary Rodham Clinton is so far in front in early polls that she鈥檚 almost the presumptive nominee: Nobody else in the race can even see her taillights up ahead. But what if Mrs. Clinton actually pulls out, for some unknown reason? Stranger things have happened in US politics. Good old Joe might want to be standing there when the party chieftains start looking desperately for someone with greater name recognition than Martin O鈥橫alley to pick up the banner.

But our real guess is that Biden is running for influence in a Clinton-dominated Democratic world. He wants to look as if he鈥檚 in the top tier, but not really threatening to compete with Clinton for delegates. If she wins, maybe Biden will be in the mix for a top administration job. Maybe he鈥檒l even get his (possible) dream job, after the presidency: secretary of State.

Remember, he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he鈥檚 always fancied himself a foreign policy expert. His successor in the chairmanship post was then-Sen. John Kerry, who鈥檚 now you-know-what. Clinton herself landed in Foggy Bottom after losing to Barack Obama in the 2008 primary race.

Yes, we鈥檙e just blue-skying here. But it kind of makes sense, doesn鈥檛 it? And if Clinton loses, there鈥檚 always 鈥淭he Daily Show.鈥� They鈥檙e going to be looking for a new host.