Biden, who failed
in two previous presidential bids, has been huddling with
advisers and senior Democratic Party figures before he decides
whether to jump into the race for the presidential nomination
against front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Clinton has struggled to overcome fallout from her use of a
private email server while working as the nation's top diplomat.
The AFL-CIO labor federation, an umbrella group for 56 member
unions representing more than 12.5 million workers, has not made
an endorsement in the Democratic race.
In a conference call with Democratic National Committee members
on Wednesday, Biden said he was giving the race a lot of thought
but was trying to gauge whether he had the energy and commitment
for it.
"If I were to announce to run, I have to be able to commit to
all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my
whole soul, and right now both are pretty well banged up and
we're trying to figure out that issue," Biden said in an audio
clip aired by CNN.
Biden's eldest son, Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney
general, died of cancer in May at age 46. It was another family
tragedy for the vice president, who lost his first wife and his
daughter in a car accident shortly after first winning election
to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972.
(Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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