Biden mum on Clinton

Vice President Biden made no mention of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on Monday, as he delivered a speech on the economy.

The vice president spoke highly of organized labor, as he accepted an award as a “green jobs champion” at the forum sponsored by the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers. 

{mosads}“Labor built the middle class,” said Biden, who thanked labor for helping him in various campaigns.

“In ’72, when I announced as a 29-year-old kid that I was going to run for the United States Senate, no one gave me — with good reason — any remote chance of winning,” Biden said. “Richard Nixon won my state.” 

He said that, once labor groups got behind him, “everything else began to move” for his campaign.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciated it,” he said.

Biden took the stage to a fiery capacity crowd of about 500 people chanting against the administration’s trade policy.

Unions oppose President Obama’s call for Congress to give him “fast-track” negotiating authority, which would make it easier to negotiate trade deals by preventing Congress from amending them.

Clinton announced on Sunday she would run for the White House. Biden has not ruled out a run but badly trails Clinton in polls.