Biden ramping up travel schedule

Vice President Biden will make a three-day swing through Colorado and California next week, further ramping up his schedule following the death of his eldest son.

{mosads}Biden will make stops in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco starting Tuesday and wrapping up Thursday in what the White House describes as a series of events focused on the economy.

He is making the trip at a critical time in Washington, where he has taken a leading role within the Obama administration to secure support for an international nuclear deal with Iran.

Biden appeared alongside Obama when the president addressed the nation early Tuesday regarding the deal, which would provide sanctions relief in exchange new limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

The vice president also visited the Capitol for a second day in a row Thursday to pitch Senate Democrats on the nuclear agreement. He visited with House Democrats the previous day.

The vice president has taken on additional meetings in recent weeks after spending time in Delaware with family following the death of his son Beau Biden, 46, from brain cancer on May 30.

Biden attended the Women’s World Cup final in Vancouver over the July 4 holiday weekend and an event days later in New York celebrating same-sex marriage.

His increasingly busy schedule also comes amid budding speculation that he is considering a 2016 White House bid, something he has not ruled out.

A recent Wall Street Journal report said that Beau and Hunter Biden urged their father to run for president in 2016, and a New York Times report this week suggested the vice president was mulling a bid but that “his staff is not planning further than two weeks ahead.”

Supporters nudging Biden to launch another White House campaign and challenge Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton have been encouraged by recent polling.

A Monmouth University poll out Wednesday showed Biden taking 13 percent to Clinton’s 51 percent. Should he announce a bid, experts expect his support would nearly double in the poll, if not more.