Joe Biden, the senior U.S. senator from Delaware, began his 2008 presidential campaign when he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on the January 7, 2007, edition of Meet the Press. He officially became a candidate on January 31, 2007, after filing papers with the Federal Election Commission.
During the campaign, Biden focused on his plan to achieve political success in the Iraq War through a system of federalization. He touted his record in the Senate as the head of several committees and experience in foreign policy. Despite a few notable endorsements, Biden failed to garner significant support in opinion polls, and was marred by controversial comments made while campaigning. He ultimately dropped out of the race on January 3, 2008, after coming in fifth place and capturing less than 1% of the vote in the Iowa caucus.
Seven months after the conclusion of his campaign, Biden was chosen by Democratic nominee Barack Obama to be his running mate on August 21, 2008. Obama and Biden would go on to win the general election, and were sworn in on January 20, 2009, causing Biden to leave the Senate after 36 years. Obama and Biden served two consecutive terms in office. Biden declined to run in the 2016 election, instead supporting Hillary Clinton, who would go on to lose the general election to Republican nominee Donald Trump. In the 2020 election, Biden launched his third campaign for president. Biden would go on to become the Democratic nominee, defeating Obama's successor, the 45th president and Republican nominee Trump in the general election, becoming the 46th president of the United States. Biden initially ran for reelection, but withdrew from the race in July 2024. Biden served only one term in office.
Campaign development
Groundwork for the campaign Biden had run for president once before, but his 1988 presidential campaign had lasted for only three and a half months. He had been forced to withdraw due to controversies arising over plagiarizing other politicians' speeches without credit, and lying about his academic record.
Biden first mentioned his intentions to run for president for 2008 on the Don Imus radio show on December 8, 2004. In the edition of January 23, 2006, of The News Journal, Delaware's largest daily newspaper, columnist Harry F. Themal reported that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party." Themal concludes that this is the position Biden desires, and that in a campaign "he plans to stress the dangers to the security of the average American, not just from the terrorist threat, but from the lack of health assistance, crime, and energy dependence on unstable parts of the world."
In early 2006, an investigation by editors of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia discovered that Biden's congressional staffers had edited the site, recasting discussion of a potential 2008 candidacy in a more favorable light.
First-quarter 2007 Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, although he had discussed running for months prior. It had been speculated that Biden would be offered and accept the position of Secretary of State because of his foreign policy experience and credentials. Biden rejected the notion outright, saying "Under no administration will I accept the job of Secretary of State". He stated that he was focused only on the presidency. At a campaign event, Biden commented, "I know a lot of my opponents out there say I'd be a great secretary of state. Seriously, every one of them. Do you watch any of the debates? 'Joe's right, Joe's right, Joe's right.'" Other candidates commenting that "Joe is right" in the Democratic debates has been converted into a Biden campaign theme and ad.
On January 31, 2007, as Biden entered the presidential race he attacked frontrunner Hillary Clinton's plan for the War in Iraq. During an interview on Good Morning America, Biden called Clinton's plan "a disaster" and "counterproductive". Biden stated that his plan called for a "political solution" unlike Clinton's "military solution". Biden praised Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate, calling her "fully qualified". He drew criticism for his attempted praise of Illinois Senator and future running mate Barack Obama, referring to him as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy", a remark criticized as racist. Biden was criticized in the popular press for his comments about Obama, and although he apologized, his campaign was damaged by the remark. Eventually, Obama stated that he did not view this comment as racist.
A few weeks later, Biden appeared on the Feb 18 episode of Face the Nation, criticizing the new surge policy of the Bush administration in Iraq. He spoke about a piece of legislation that he put forth before the Senate to stall the surge policy from enactment, which would strip the president of the authorization he was given to go to war in 2002. After the legislation went up for a vote it failed by four votes in the Senate. Biden stated:
While campaigning in March 2007, Biden stated that he would put a great quantity of focus on the first Southern primary state of South Carolina as a strategy. While speaking to rural audiences Biden noted that the war in Iraq continued to be an important facet of his campaign agenda. He said that he would talk to Independent voters to convince them to propel him to the nomination stating that if "the Democratic nominee cannot attract independents, Democrats cannot win". Biden would later drop out of the race before the South Carolina primary would take place.
Second-quarter 2007 In April 2007 Biden criticized Republican presidential candidate John McCain calling him "fundamentally wrong" for his support of the surge policy in Iraq. Biden wrote an opinion column to the Sacramento Bee, which called the surge a "failed policy". He conceded that violence was down in Iraq but that the "militia ... simply waiting out the surge" accounted for the downward trend. Biden argued that no political change had occurred as there had been "no trust of the government by the [Iraqi] people." He later described his plan which calls for a system of federalism.
As the debate stage of the election began, Biden participated in the first presidential debate of the election on April 26, 2007, in South Carolina. He was the second to respond to a question originally posed to Senator Hillary Clinton on whether Senator Harry Reid's assessment that the war in Iraq was "lost" is factual. Biden responded by stating the war is not a "game show" or a "football game", which can be lost. He went on to argue that the real question that should be asked is, "Are we going to be able to leave Iraq ... and leave behind something other than chaos?" He elaborated on this statement revealing his belief in the need for a change in the strategy for Iraq, declaring that the United States has to "change the fundamental premise of this engagement, and that is ... to decentralize Iraq ... give the regions control over their own destiny ..."
After the South Carolina debate, Biden campaigned in California to begin May 2007 attending events in San Francisco. Later in the month after President George W. Bush enacted economic sanctions against Sudan to pressure the government to end the genocide in Darfur, Biden momentarily shifted focus from Iraq to the crisis in Darfur. He released a statement on the campaign trail that expressed his belief that Bush was right to enact the sanctions. However, Biden argued that it was not enough, calling for a No-Fly Zone over the region and a possible commitment of United States forces to the nation.
On June 3, Biden participated in the second Democratic Debate featured on CNN, and set in the first primary state of New Hampshire. Biden discussed the War in Iraq, his recent vote to continue the funding of the troops and briefly about illegal immigration. On immigration Biden stated that it would cost too much money to send all 14 million illegal immigrants back to their native countries. He stated that those who commit crimes should be sent back and the rest should be given a pathway to citizenship. His statement: "Folks, being commander in chief requires you to occasionally be practical." drew some laughter from the audience. Later in the debate Biden addressed his opposition to the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of the military and touched on the situation in Darfur.
Later in June, Biden participated in another debate, this time featured on PBS and set at Howard University in Washington D.C. At the debate the candidates discussed issues pertinent to African-Americans including education, civil rights and reproductive safety. Biden stated that to prevent the spread of AIDS public servants have to communicate to "black men ... [that] it is not unmanly to wear a condom, getting women to understand they can say no, getting people in the position where testing matters. I got tested for AIDS. I know Barack [Obama] got tested for AIDS."
Third-quarter 2007 The next month Biden participated in two debates: The July 12 Debate in Detroit, Michigan and most notably the July 23 YouTube debate in Charleston, South Carolina featured on CNN. In this debate when asked what Republican he would pick as a running mate if forced, Biden answered, "I would pick Chuck Hagel, and I'd consider asking Dick Lugar to be secretary of state." In regards to Iraq, Biden stated that it was unrealistic to say that all troops would be redeployed. He instructed those who used that rhetoric to "Tell the truth for a change." When he discussed education Biden declared that he "would scrap" the No Child Left Behind Act. He concluded his participation in the debate after being asked to say something he didn't like about the candidate to his left, Dennis Kucinich. Biden replied, "I don't like a damn thing about him ... only kidding. The best thing about him is his wife."
The next month Biden was not able to participate in two debates, the August 4 debate sponsored by the DailyKos and the August 9 LGBT Debate featured on the gay network Logo. He participated in the August 7 AFL–CIO Debate and the August 19 Iowa debate featured on ABC. On August 20 Biden aired his first campaign advertisement in the first caucus state of Iowa. In the 30-second ad a voiceover states that Biden has a plan to end the Iraq War, and that "We (America) must end this war in a way that doesn't require us to send their (soldiers) grandchild back." It continues by declaring, "Joe Biden is the only candidate with a plan to get us out of Iraq and keep us out."
As September began, Biden confided to the Associated Press that he was "counting on Iowa a lot". He hoped to come in "first, second or an indistinguishable third" and if not he would leave the campaign trail and return to Washington. His early statements seemed to mirror the future as he would ultimately drop out of the race after finishing lower than third in the Iowa Caucus. The results also presented a refutation of what he stated in September 2007 when he said that the campaign was "gaining some traction [in Iowa]." The September 2007 assessments made by University of Iowa professor Bruce Gronbeck and Drake University professor Dennis Goldford displayed more merit at the end of the race after Gronbeck stated that Biden was not gaining traction in the race and with Goldford adding that "[Biden] talks like a senator, not a president". Democratic strategist Ron Parker argued in September that Biden still had a chance but just had to sell his case to the American people.