Biden Returns to Early Primary State for Democratic Dinner

Is former Vice President Joe Biden already gearing up a presidential run for 2020?

Biden is returning to New Hampshire to honor the nation's first all-female, all-Democratic congressional delegation.

Biden is speaking Sunday night at the state Democratic Party's annual McIntyre Shaheen 100 Club Dinner. He'll be joined by U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter.

Such early post-election visits to New Hampshire typically fuel speculation about presidential ambitions. Biden's visit comes just days after Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be in the state to promote his new book.

Biden has also lined up speeches to the Florida Democratic Party investment leaders at SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas in May, and commencement addresses at Harvard University, Colby College and Morgan State University, Politico reported.

According to Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere, Biden and his staff have privately started talking "about how to begin planning a strategy with a roughly 18-month timeline so that if he decides on another presidential run, he’ll be best positioned to get it off the ground."

"He doesn’t sit still well," an unnamed Biden adviser told Politico. "He wants to have a voice. The more stuff he does like this, the more people hear his voice."

Politico reported Biden's told some people about a possible run: "I’m not planning on it, but I’m not going to tell anyone I’m not doing it" – and to others, "If I'm walking, I'm running."

"I have heard nothing, I swear to God I've heard nothing," one unnamed fundraiser for former President Barack Obama told Politico. "It's not real until they start calling the major bundlers. Right now, they're just going around having fun being in demand."

According to Politico, Biden's mission in upcoming appearances is to push his vision of attention to the middle class, and for young people to stay engaged in politics.

But those who've backed him in previous runs at the White House are cheering him on.

"I’ve been encouraging him every time I see him, South Carolina state Rep. James Smith told Politico. "Joe Biden is as much about the future of our party and our nation because of who he is and what he stood for. He is what people want to see, somebody who’s authentic, who’s real, who really understands working families."

New Hampshire Democratic chair Ray Buckley, who invited Biden to Sunday’s dinner said he's "certainly earned the respect and consideration of folks, and he has a network of folks that have been with him for decades."

"He would start off with a reservoir of goodwill if he chooses to run," he told Politico.