Those who are called to serve our nation in Washington DC do so because they feel a deep and fiery love for this country.  (Well, at least some of them).

For Donald Trump, he felt it necessary to enter The Beltway and tear down the inexcusable constructs of a system gone mad.  He wanted to drain the swamp and restore dignity to America and her highest offices after years of perceived corruption and cronyism.

Others serve because they have a fire in their belly for any number of issues, some big and some small, and they know that public service in the only outlet that will satisfy them.

But then there those who enter the political realm for reasons of a different kind.  These are the public servants who are easily compromised by special interest groups and lobbyists, and those who run simply because it strokes their ego.

For former Vice President Joe Biden, his reasons for again seeking public office may be simply to help the Democrats beat Donald Trump – a theory about his reluctance that is gaining momentum this week.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s top advisers and prominent Democrats outside the Biden campaign have recently revived a long-running debate whether Biden should publicly pledge to serve only one term, with Biden himself signaling to aides that he will serve only a single term.

While the option of making a public pledge remains available, Biden has for now settled on an alternative strategy: quietly indicate that he will almost certainly not run for a second term while declining to make a promise that he and his advisers fear could turn him into a lame duck and sap him of his political capital.

According to four people who regularly talk to Biden, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters, it is virtually inconceivable that he will run for re-election in 2024, when he would be the first octogenarian president.

The verbiage used to describe Biden’s stance was unmistakeable.

“If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the campaign said, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he won’t be running for reelection.”

Biden has long been seen by Democratic voters as the antithesis to Donald Trump, but with enough centrist appeal to possibly peel undecided midwestern voters away from the incumbent Republican President.