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What happens if Joe Biden runs for president?

Advisors to Vice President Joe Biden have said he'll make up his mind about a presidential run by the end of the summer
What happens if Joe Biden does run for president? 01:51

The trickle of speculation surrounding a potential presidential run by Vice President Joe Biden shows no sign of letting up.

On Monday White House press secretary Josh Earnest said one of the reasons President Obama picked Biden as his running mate was because he thought Biden would make a good president.

Biden is thinking about making his third run for the top job and his advisers have said he'll announce his decision by the end of the summer, which is rapidly approaching.

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John Dickerson, CBS News political director and host of "Face the Nation" CBS News

John Dickerson, CBS News political director and host of "Face the Nation," says Biden's friends and supporters have been urging him to run for months. The recent death of his son, Beau, added an emotional component.

"According to columnist Maureen Dowd, Beau Biden asked his father to run for president," said Dickerson. "That report over the weekend is what has gotten a lot more people talking about this."

Biden's likely opponent, Hillary Clinton, is showing some weakness which some see as an opportunity for a challenger.

If he were to run he would face a number of challenges. Dickerson says the first obstacles would be "money and organization."

Will Biden run for president in 2016? 02:24

"If he's going to run against Hillary Clinton, she has a lot of both, he'd have to catch up quickly," said Dickerson. "And there's not a driving passion for a Biden candidacy which would help in raising money and building organization. Hillary Clinton is still very popular among Democrats. Joe Biden is not ideologically different, he is not from a new generation, he is of a different gender but most Democrats think Hillary Clinton's gender would help her in a general election."

Dickerson adds that since Biden has run before, he knows a campaign would be a "long, hard slog."

For more of Dickerson's analysis, watch the video at the top of the page.

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