With or without him, the groundwork for Vice President Joe Biden to make a bid for the Democratic nomination is set.

In Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, the Draft Biden movement, a super PAC urging him to join the race, is setting up infrastructure to catch Biden, should he leap into the race, said Kevin McCarthy, former Iowa House Minority Leader and an Iowa co-chair for Draft Biden.

“In this case, we don’t have a candidate, which is somewhat unusual,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the organization is not ready to disclose its number of volunteers, but when it does, it would surprise people. He also said the organization was looking to add more paid staff.

Some of Biden’s supporters are long-time supporters, including state Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames, who supported him when he ran for president in 2008. She has been in touch with him since.

“I’m holding off on endorsing anyone else,” Heddens said, adding that she is leaving room for Biden to come to the decision to run on his own. “There is support for him to take that step.”

A September interview with Stephen Colbert showed Biden suggesting he may not be ready to run for president.

“My own feeling was that, up until just recently, that I was going to hold back and wait until the vice president made a decision,” said state Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, and a Draft Biden supporter. “I felt all along that if he got in that I would be supporting him.”

Quirmbach said the reason he chose to go public with his support before Biden made a decision came after watching the Colbert appearance.

“I just think he is a fabulously talented person,” Quirmbach said. “[He is] just a very genuine, warm decent human being.”

Beyond personal support, Quirmbach said others feel that adding another couple of voices on the Democratic side would enrich the debate surrounding the presidential election.

Before his role as vice president, Biden, 72, served as a U.S. senator from Delaware.

He was elected to serve in the Senate at age 29 and graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School, according to the White House website.

Biden’s personal life has been plagued with tragedy. His first wife and daughter died in a car accident and his son died from brain cancer in May.

In an election cycle where the electorate is longing for candidates who are authentic and genuine, McCarthy said Biden has the potential of standing out.

“He matches Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in authenticity,” McCarthy said, but he added that he thinks Biden surpasses them in electability.

McCarthy said “there is no firm date” by when Biden has to decide whether he will actually run for president, beyond the deadlines to get on individual states’ ballots. He added that getting on ballots is “a very time-consuming, people-consuming process.

“The people close to the vice president are looking at the deadlines,” McCarthy said. “They are very aware of them.”

McCarthy said if the vice president chooses to run, the ISU community would play a key role in supporting him in Iowa.

“We have a lot of undergraduate students, at least, who are for the first time able to vote for the president,” Quirmbach said. “[The election is] an exciting opportunity for our students to get involved in politics.”