Vice President Joe Biden is speaking in Atlanta tonight on the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran, but the subtext will be whether he'll end months of anxiety within the Democratic Party and decide whether to jump into the race.
You can expect traffic to be even more nightmarish than usual. His visit also coincides with Georgia Tech's season opener against Alcorn State and a pre-season Atlanta Falcons game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Over in our premium and dead-tree editions, we take a deeper look at the fraught political dynamic he'll face in Georgia as he weighs a run. From the story:
Many rank-and-file Democrats have an emotional attachment to Biden, who wears his heart on his sleeve. And a fervent group of activists are urging him to jump into the race because they fear a scandal-scarred Clinton cannot win in November 2016.
Biden visits Atlanta to speak at the Ahavath Achim synagogue in Buckhead a day after a trip to South Florida, which has long been fertile fundraising territory for Democratic presidential candidates. At a stop Wednesday in Miami, he ignored questions about his future but delivered a campaign-style speech.
From our Cox colleague George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post:
"We've gone from crisis to recovery and now we're on the verge of a real resurgence in the American economy. As economists say, the macro numbers are good," Biden said. "But what's not happened is, the middle class is not back yet. The middle class is not back yet."
Said Biden: "People believe that there is an American promise, that there is an American dream, that if in fact you do all you can to play by the rules, that you can get ahead. That is the American dream."
Time is running short. Serious talk of Biden mounting a campaign broke barely a month ago - with reports saying his late son Beau Biden urged him to run. The first Democratic presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 13 in Nevada.
The speech tonight holds its own intrigue. The Obama administration's nuclear deal is a touchy subject within the Jewish community, and some of the city's most influential Jewish leaders will be on hand to hear him defend the agreement.
The 7:30 p.m. lecture is a first-come, first-serve affair. The doors at the synagogue will open at 5:30 p.m. and attendees are urged to come early because security will be tight. You can find all the details by clicking here. And you can watch the live-stream by clicking here.
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