Vice President Joe Biden will be invited to the first Democratic presidential debate on Oct. 13 if he declares as late as the day before, according to eligibility criteria released by the host network Monday.
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee have already been invited to the debate, which will take place in Las Vegas and be broadcast by CNN. Anderson Cooper will moderate while Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez will ask additional questions. Don Lemon will set up the questions submitted through Facebook.
Biden, who has yet to decide whether he is going to enter the 2016 presidential race, already meets the polling criteria. Candidates need only average 1 percent of the vote in national polls selected by CNN.
There’s been increasing speculation that Biden will run for president as front-runner Clinton’s popularity continues to slide amidst her email scandal, but the vice president has acknowledged a campaign would be difficult after the death of his son Beau in May.
The upcoming debate will be one of six sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. Supporters of other candidates, especially Sanders and O’Malley, have complained that the DNC debate schedule favors Clinton.
