“President Trump delivered a free-wheeling, campaign-style speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual spring dinner Tuesday — taking swipes at a potential rival in former Vice President Joe Biden,” ABC News reports.

“In the early stages of his re-election bid, Trump seemed to revel that Biden is being ‘taken care of’ among the teeming field of 2020 presidential competitors.”

Said Trump: “We’re going into the war with some socialist. It looks like the only non, sort of, heavy socialist is being taken care of pretty well by the socialists, they got to him, our former vice president. I was going to call him, I don’t know him well, I was going to say ‘Welcome to the world Joe, you having a good time?’”

New York Times: “Joseph Biden came up in politics as an old-school backslapper whose greatest strength was his ability to connect. He doled out handshakes and hugs to friends and strangers alike, and his tendency to lavish his affections on women and girls was so central to his persona that it became fodder for late-night television jokes.”

“But the political ground has shifted under Mr. Biden, and his tactile style of retail politicking is no longer a laughing matter in the era of #MeToo. Now, as he considers a run for president, Mr. Biden is struggling to prevent a strength from turning into a crippling liability; on Tuesday alone, two more women told The New York Times that the former vice president’s touches made them uncomfortable.”

Wall Street Journal: ““If Joe Biden enters the presidential race, he’s betting he can appeal to a silent majority in the party now being overlooked by a vocal, liberal base demanding generational change in leadership.”

Buzzfeed: “Everybody already knows what they think about Joe Biden putting his hands on people, because we’ve all seen this happen in public. We’ve seen Biden kiss people at public events! We’ve all had years to think about it! Does anyone need a photograph of Lucy Flores and Joe Biden to know that, at some point, somewhere, over the last 40 years, someone might have been uncomfortable because the situation wasn’t quite right?”

“But the current system still isn’t ready to handle a well-known, gray-area subject like this. As she said on TV over the weekend, Flores didn’t consider it sexual harassment, she just was uncomfortable, and we all know what she means.”

Michelle Goldberg: “So I don’t think Biden’s avuncular pawing is a #MeToo story… But if Biden was more oblivious than predatory, his history still puts him out of step with the mores of an increasingly progressive Democratic Party. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that some Democrats are bracing ‘for an extended reckoning about Mr. Biden and gender if he enters the race.’ The inevitably of such a reckoning should make Biden reconsider getting in.”

Playbook: “His team has not made Biden available for a single interview, allowing others to tell his story. This isn’t 2009. On-the-record statements don’t suffice. A lot of folks are wondering why Biden won’t address this head-on.”

“Joe Biden advisers believe coverage of allegations of inappropriate behavior is being stoked by rival Democrats — a dynamic that could actually fire up the vice president at a time when others see success as increasingly improbable,” Axios reports.

“Several around Biden think advisers to Bernie Sanders are at least partly behind the anti-Biden campaign. One prominent backer thinks Biden will run, and ‘is ready to kill Bernie.'”

Said one source close to Biden: “VP directed staff this evening to reach out to supporters and donors with a simple message — full steam ahead.”

“A Connecticut woman says Joe Biden touched her inappropriately and rubbed noses with her during a 2009 political fundraiser in Greenwich when he was vice president, drawing further scrutiny to the Democrat and his history of unwanted contact with women as he ponders a presidential run,” the Hartford Courant reports.

Said Amy Lappos: “It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.”

Politico: “The photograph, taken at the White House in February 2015 during Ash Carter’s swearing-in ceremony to lead the Pentagon, captures Biden standing behind Stephanie Carter and whispering into her ear as his hands rest on her shoulders.”

“But in a blog post published Sunday on Medium, Carter wrote that Biden’s display of affection toward her in 2015 was appreciated, as she was ‘uncharacteristically nervous’ after slipping on some ice upon her arrival at the Pentagon earlier in the day.”

Said Carter: “After the swearing-in, as Ash was giving remarks, he leaned in to tell me ‘thank you for letting him do this’ and kept his hands on my shoulders as a means of offering his support.”

A new Emerson College poll in Nevada shows Joe Biden leading the Democratic primary race with 26% support, followed by Bernie Sanders at 23%, Beto O’Rourke at 10%, Elizabeth Warren at 10%, Kamala Harris at 9%, and Pete Buttigieg at 5%.

Joe Biden said he does not believe he has “acted inappropriately,” but “if it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully,” The Hill reports.

The former vice president is facing accusations that he kissed a woman’s head without consent in 2014. Former Nevada state assemblywoman Lucy Flores made the accusation in an op-ed on Friday.

Said Biden: “I may not recall these moments the same way, and I may be surprised at what I hear. But we have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences, and men should pay attention. And I will.”

“Joe Biden is enduring the roughest stretch of any candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, and he’s not even a candidate yet,” Politico reports.

“In a two-week period where his attempts to smooth a path into the 2020 race only seemed to underscore the obstacles confronting his prospective candidacy, the former vice president got a concentrated dose of what’s in store for him if he chooses to embark on a third run for the White House.”

Lucy Flores, the former Democratic nominee for Nevada lieutenant governor, writes in The Cut about an “inappropriate encounter” with former Vice President Joe Biden when he campaigned for her in 2014.

Said Flores: “He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused.”

She added: “I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.”

Vox: “The next time a new national 2020 poll comes out, you can probably fill in the blanks yourself: Biden at 30 percent or so, Sanders trailing 5-10 points behind him, O’Rourke and Harris both hanging around at 10 percent, Warren sitting at 5 percent-ish, and then a crowd of Booker, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Castro, and Kirsten Gillibrand with a few percentage points each.”

“The story has barely changed all year. The big unknown is how durable Biden’s stubbornly consistent lead really is — and we won’t know the answer to that until he decides whether or not to run. And even then, things may not really change until the first round of debates, when the public finally turns its full attention to the presidential campaign.”

David Gergen: “If and when he declares, Biden might break precedent by promising up front that he will serve for only a single term — ‘one and done,’ as they say in college basketball. Unlike other politicians who always seem grasping for power, Biden would have a credible argument that he is truly putting country first.”

“But, the critics will respond, he will automatically become a lame duck, unable to get big things done. So? It is already clear that unless we break out of today’s paralyzed politics, the next president will be badly handcuffed.”

“And committing to one term would also diminish the importance of his age issue. With a single term, he would step down at 81. People might accept that. But trying to go on till 85? That seems beyond the pale.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden reached out to at least a half-dozen supporters Tuesday to tell them he intends to run for president and to ask for their help in lining up contributions from major donors so he can quickly raise several million dollars,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Biden has expressed concern to these people that he wouldn’t be able to raise millions of dollars in online donations immediately the way some other Democratic candidates have.”

“Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual!”

— President Trump, on Twitter.

Politico: “Biden has a $2.7 million vacation home. He charges more than $100,000 per speaking gig and has inked a book deal likely worth seven figures.”

“Since leaving office in 2017, the 76-year-old former vice president has watched his bank account swell as he continues to cultivate the image of a regular, Amtrak-riding guy. He’s repeatedly referred to himself as ‘Middle-Class Joe’ on the campaign trail and in speaking engagements as he publicly mulls whether to run for president.”