Ready for … Biden?

Perhaps the question should be, who is ready for him? Any momentum behind Vice President Joe Biden for a presidential run may largely be in the eye of his ardent beholders.

But with Hillary Clinton expected to kick off her long-awaited presidential campaign today, the chorus of calls for a legitimate Democratic challenger to her will likely only grow in intensity. That could be especially so as the former secretary of state dips her toe back into retail politics, and voters begin to get a real feel for her beyond those now-deleted one-word emails.

So what about Biden?

“I like Joe Biden,” Bay State congressman Michael Capuano said last week.

Well, everyone likes Joe Biden. But is the gaffe-prone second-in-command viable as a presidential candidate? Capuano, a past U.S. Senate candidate appreciated for his straightforward talk, thinks so.

“Sure he is. I think he can win if he runs,” Capuano said. “But I don’t know that he will run, and I don’t know … who’s in the rest of the field.

“There’s a bunch of people that could run. Running and winning are two different things, and my biggest interest is getting a Democratic nominee that can win,” the Somerville Democrat added. “Other than that, then I get into people that I want to run and people I don’t want to run. But I want to win more than I want to have somebody that agrees with me 100 percent of the time.” (Capuano, for one, has told U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren that he’d back her if she chose to run.)

But a Biden presidency may not just be fodder for late-night punch lines. A Draft Biden website has popped up, declaring upon its March launch, “We Need Joe.”

Perhaps more impressive is its array of Biden swag. Yes, there are T-shirts and mugs. But can you pass up a “I’m Riding with Biden” dog hoodie (for $21.59)? How about a Biden baby bodysuit at $16.79? Or the eco-friendly $20.39 reusable shopping bag?

And no, nothing is priced at $20.16.

Where there’s smoke …

State Sen. President Stanley Rosenberg all but declared legislation addressing legalized marijuana dead last week, saying on Boston Herald Radio that he sees “no appetite” in the Legislature to take it up ahead of a likely 2016 ballot question.

The appetite, however, appears to be healthy elsewhere. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found that voters in three presidential swing states are all leaning toward legal weed.

According to pollsters, support for allowing adults “to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” sits at 55 to 42 percent in Florida, 52 to 44 percent in Ohio and 51 to 45 percent in Pennsylvania.

Just a bunch of poll results from cannabis-loving hippies, you say? Maybe not. Many of those same voters — whether truthfully or not — say they don’t plan to fire one up if given the legal green light. Just 17 percent in Florida, 14 percent in Ohio and 15 percent in Pennsylvania say they would “definitely” or “probably” get high.

Jack Encarnacao contributed to this ?report. State House reporter Matt Stout can be reached at matthew.stout?@bostonherald.com.