Joe Biden: Kansas Independent Senate Candidate Greg Orman will join with Dems

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Vice President Joe Biden predicts that the Senate Democratic Caucus will have 52 votes come January — and Kansas independent Greg Orman will be one of them.

Though Orman has refused to say whether he will caucus with Democrats or Republicans, the bullish Biden told Connecticut radio station WPLR that Orman will ultimately be with Democrats when it comes time to choose his caucus. It’s an area where Biden will get some agreement from Republicans: One of the GOP’s central attacks on Orman is that he is a Democrat clothed as an independent.

“We have a chance of picking up an independent who will be with us in the state of Kansas,” Biden said of Orman, who is challenging Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) in one of the few races that national Democrats are on offense. The clip was quickly blasted out by Republicans.

Orman’s campaign quickly sought to play down Biden’s remarks.

“Greg’s never spoken to the vice president in his life. Greg is an independent, and he’s not going to Washington represent the Democrats or the Republicans,” said campaign manager Jim Jonas.

Earlier on Tuesday, Orman insisted on MSNBC that he could go with either party, though many Democrats privately agree with Biden that the pro-abortion rights, pro-comprehensive immigration reform, independent Orman is more philosophically in line with the caucus of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Orman has indicated he will caucus with whichever party that wins the majority because it will best for his state — and according to Biden that be the Democrats. And Orman is not alone in deferring his decision: Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who currently caucuses with Democrats, also has declined to rule out switching caucuses.

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