Draft Biden, a group trying to get Vice President Joe Biden to join the 2016 White House race, received a $10,000 check from Dick Harpootlian, the former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party and one of the vice president's most outspoken supporters supporters.

The move signals a change in the political action committee's standing, which is not affiliated with Biden and had been avoided by Harpootlian out of concern that it lacked the support of the vice president and his political team, The Associated Press explained.

But some operatives now have dropped such self-imposed distance as Josh Alcorn, the top political aide to Biden's late son Beau Biden, announced he had joined Draft Biden.

Biden himself has not announced a presidential run but in the past has also refused to rule out a 2016 bid. President Barack Obama's own momentum and renewed popularity may have led the vice president to consider mounting a challenge to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who has long been presumed to lead the party into the upcoming race, Politico noted.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd revealed on Saturday that Biden had been holding meetings at his residence, "talking to friends, family and donors about jumping in" to challenge the former secretary of state in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating states.

And Michael Thornton, a Boston lawyer and longtime Biden supporter, said the vice president had been deeply moved by his late son's desire for him to run.

"He was so close to Beau and it was so heartbreaking that, frankly, I thought initially he wouldn't have the heart," Thornton said. "But I've had indications that maybe he does want to -- and 'that's what Beau would have wanted me to do.'"

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a friend of vice president's and loyal Clinton supporter, meanwhile, told Politico that a Biden run is still in the realm of the imaginable.

"The fact that Secretary Clinton has stumbled a little bit and her unfavorables have gone up a little bit would convince the Biden folks to take another look at it," Rendell said. "It would be very hard at this late stage, with Secretary Clinton having preempted donors and staff. However having said that, if there's anyone who could pull it off, it's a sitting vice president."