Category: Politics

Barack Obama obviously didn’t choose Joe Biden as his running mate to gain electoral votes. Delaware has just three.

And he didn’t tap Biden for geographical balance. Two northerners now head the Democratic ticket.

Hint: Click in map to explore connectionsStory continues below interactive map 

But the addition of the veteran senator with extensive foreign relations background and a trumpeted tendency to speak his mind means that the two can now assume the roles of good candidate/bad candidate.

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in prime position to criticize McCain’s stands on foreign policy, homeland security and defense. Already, he is being called Obama’s “attack dog.”

Joe Biden

The Obama camp announced Biden’s selection by text message at 3 a.m. The two men are scheduled to appear together at a rally in Springfield, IL, at 3 p.m.

Biden has run twice for the White House, in 1988 and 2008. During his most recent campaign, which ended after a poor showing in Iowa, Biden critized Obama as being inexperienced and “not yet ready” for the White House.

The McCain camp seized on this today.

“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt told The New York Times. “Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.”

At age 65, 18 years older than Obama, Biden has extensive experience on Capitol Hill, having served six terms in the Senate.

He has also endured many personal tragedies. Soon after his election to the Senate, his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash. Five years later, he remarried. He also has survived two brain aneurysms.

His son Beau, Delaware attorney general and a captain in the Army National Guard, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in October.

In the midst of recent spats between the campaigns about who’s wealthier and more elite, Biden is one of the few non-millionaires in the Senate. Having been elected at age 29, he has spent most of his adult life in public office.

Last year he reported his assets were between $62,000 and $405,000, and his liabilities were between $140,000 and $365,000.

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• David Plouffe is unseen hand behind Obama’s winning campaign – June 18, 2008
• Lieberman’s transformation from Dems’ VP pick to McCain mouthpiece – June 9, 2008
• Power off the campaign, not off the record – March 8, 2008
• Surprise, Maria Shriver endorses Obama – February 3, 2008
• Lincoln Chafee, Jim Leach and Rita Hauser form ‘Republicans for Obama’ – August 13, 2008
• McCain shakes up campaign organization – again – July 3, 2008
• Is Tim Kaine too much like Barack Obama to be VP choice? – August 1, 2008
• Ret. Gen. James L. Jones on Obama’s VP short list – June 11, 2008
• Candidates follow the money – to hedge fund billionaires – April 23, 2008
• Tobacco lobby prefers McCain over Obama (if it must pick one) – July 28, 2008