A top Democratic strategist has joined the effort to recruit Vice President Joe Biden into the 2016 presidential race.
Steve Schale – who served as President Barack Obama’s top Florida strategist during his 2008 and 2012 White House campaigns -- has joined the Draft Biden committee, NBC News has confirmed.
This makes Schale the biggest Obama World person to join up with Draft Biden.
Schale tells NBC News that he has no knowledge of Biden’s White House intentions, but wanted to join the effort.
Biden is expected to make his decision about a 2016 run in the coming weeks. He spent part of a recent vacation calling close friends to inform them he is thinking of running.
Biden supporters feel Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has become increasingly vulnerable as controversies surrounding her use of a private email server continue to plague her campaign. But Biden so far has little infrastructure in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and a late entrance into the race may be difficult to overcome.
A CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday found a majority of Democrats, 53 percent, say Biden should run in 2016.
-- NBC's Andrew Rafferty contributed to this report.
