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Former Vice President Joe Biden, who formally entered the race for president Thursday, leads most polls by a healthy margin — boosted by name recognition from his high-profile tenure under President Barack Obama.
But will his time in the White House help clear his path back in 2020?
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Biden joins the group of more than a dozen former vice presidents who have sought the Oval Office in their own right. But only five full-term vice presidents have won the presidency by election. And only two were post-World World II.
Vice presidents have also had mixed success in the Iowa caucuses.
No certain fate for VPs in Iowa caucuses
The Iowa caucuses didn't earn widespread political and media attention until the 1972 Democratic race. But it's helpful to understand the relevance of vice presidents in the decade prior.
Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president, swept the 1960 Republican primaries but was defeated by John F. Kennedy in the general election.
Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's vice president, took over when Kennedy was assassinated and was reelected in 1964.
Nixon finally won the presidency in 1968, defeating the Democratic nominee and incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey Jr.
Four years later, Nixon handily defeated South Dakota Sen. George McGovern — who placed third at the 1972 Democratic caucuses — to win a second term, but resigned in 1974.
Walter Mondale, who served as vice president under Jimmy Carter starting in 1976, won the 1984 Democratic caucuses and the party nomination. Mondale lost to Ronald Reagan in the general election.
George H.W. Bush won the 1980 Republican caucuses, but failed to secure the party nomination and later joined Reagan's winning ticket as vice president.
At the end of his second term as vice president, Bush began the 1988 race as the front-runner. But he placed third in Iowa's Republican caucuses.
Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas was expected to take the top spot, but Bush's place behind Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson was unexpected.
Bush went on to earn the nomination, win the race and serve one term before being defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992.
Dan Quayle, Bush's vice president, abandoned his presidential campaign months before the caucuses, after finishing eighth in the 1999 Iowa straw poll.
Most recently, Al Gore carried the 2000 Democratic caucuses after eight years in the Clinton administration and won the party nomination. George W. Bush defeated Gore in the general election.
Biden's Iowa caucuses history
Biden is entering the race as a frontrunner, according to a Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll published last month.
But that hasn't been the case in his past campaigns.
Biden's first bid for the White House, in 1988, was undone by accusations of plagiarism. A second run began in 2007 with a speech that referred to his future running mate Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."
He dropped out of the 2008 race after finishing fifth in Iowa, where he won less than 1% in the Democratic caucuses.
Now, nine months ahead of the caucuses, polls say Biden tops the growing field of candidates.
In early March, Biden, a moderate Democrat, had a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders, a self-identified Democratic socialist.
While his fellow vice presidents had no certain fate in the caucuses, the fact Biden was leading polls before he was an official candidate is, in large part, thanks to his name recognition, said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll, last month.
"This is not Joe Biden’s first rodeo — or second rodeo, for that matter," she said.
USA Today contributed to this report.
Shelby Fleig covers news and features for the Register. She can be reached by email at shelbyfleig@dmreg.com or by phone at 515-214-8933.
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