SCRANTON -- In the latest news about the race for the White House, we now have the long awaited answer to the question: will he or won't he?
He, of course, is Vice President Joe Biden and native son to Scranton, who announced Wednesday he will not be running for president.
“Unfortunately, I believe we are out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination.”
After months of speculation, the game of will he or won't he has come to an end. Vice President Joe Biden said he will not be seeking the job as commander in chief, saying he won't run for president.
“But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation,” said Biden.
In Scranton, the city Biden once called home, Dr. Michael Allison, the chairman of the University of Scranton's political science department, weighed in on Biden's tough decision.
“He's run for the presidency twice in the past, 1988 and 2008, so we know he wanted to be president and so it was a really difficult situation where he probably went back and forth over the last few months,” said Allison.
Allison says one factor for Biden not running was he may not have been willing to take on the Democratic front runner by fighting dirty.
“There's a lot of similarities between Biden and Mrs. Clinton and so to really distinguish himself from Hillary Clinton would mean going after her personally, would mean going after her on Benghazi or emails,” said Allison.
After Biden's announcement, Clinton praised Biden for his dedication to the country.
Allison says Biden's decision is a boost for Clinton's campaign.
“He would have had to not just tackle Clinton on policy, personally but to win the support of the Democratic base,” said Allison. “His decision helps Hillary Clinton."
