Biden gets Obama's VP slot

The longtime senator's foreign policy credentials helped earn him the pick. The McCain campaign responds with a television ad highlighting Biden's criticism of Obama's experience.

by Brian Friel

Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008


Biden's Vote RecordJoe Biden's voting record has generally placed him among the center of Senate Democrats ideologically in National Journal's annual congressional vote ratings, with some decided peaks and valleys. [more...]

Joe Biden will be Barack Obama's running mate, the presumptive Democratic nominee announced in a text message to supporters this morning.

Biden, the senior senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee first elected in 1972, appeared with Obama at a rally in Springfield, Ill., this afternoon.

Obama's Web site cited Biden's foreign policy credentials, directness and "an impressive record of collaborating across party lines" as assets the 65-year-old Irish Catholic brings to the ticket. Biden was Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination until the Iowa caucuses in January, which Obama won. Biden garnered 1 percent of the vote.

Nonetheless, Biden is a tough campaigner. In the runup to the Iowa caucus, Biden questioned Obama's readiness as commander-in-chief. When former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani challenged Biden's Iraq policies, Biden told supporters, "I will eat Rudy Giuliani alive at a debate."

After he dropped out of the primary race, Biden did not endorse either Obama or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., until Clinton quit the race in June. But in July, Biden came to Obama's defense when Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., issued a public letter asking Obama to hold a hearing on Afghanistan. DeMint is ranking member of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on the region that Obama chairs. Biden shot back a public letter the next day praising Obama's leadership on Afghanistan policy and noting that Biden's full committee had held several hearings on the subject, including one that Obama chaired.

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's campaign already released a television ad today that replays Biden's criticism of Obama's readiness for the presidency from a primary debate. "There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," a McCain spokesman said in a statement.

Biden's home state of Delaware carries three reliably Democratic electoral votes. He is up for reelection to his seventh six-year term in November and has been heavily favored to retain his seat. Biden has been a regular on Sunday morning political talk shows and has made himself easily accessible to the Capitol Hill press corps. His departure from the Senate could set off a shuffling of chairmanships in the Senate. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is next in line at the Foreign Relations Committee.

Biden also ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew amid charges that he had plagiarized a speech. At the time, Biden was overseeing confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork as the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bork was ultimately rejected, and Biden also chaired the controversial confirmation hearings for nominee Clarence Thomas, who was confirmed.

Ideologically, Biden has generally voted reliably Democratic, falling toward the moderate middle of his caucus on National Journal's annual vote ratings. In 2007 as he ran for the Democratic nomination, Biden was ranked third most liberal on the vote ratings. Obama had the most liberal voting record according to the ratings. Biden's lifetime composite liberal score of 77.5 gives him a relatively more moderate record than Obama, who has a lifetime score of 88 for his first three years in the Senate.

Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word! --text message sent to Obama's supporters early Saturday

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