Obama Picks Biden as Running Mate, Boosts Foreign Policy Image

By Laura Litvan

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama chose Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, to be his vice presidential running mate, selecting one of the party's leading foreign-policy figures and harshest critics of Republican John McCain's national security views.

The Obama campaign sent a text message to supporters at about 3 a.m. New York time announcing the decision. Obama and Biden are scheduled to appear together at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, today at 2 p.m. local time.

The choice of Biden, 65, is aimed at addressing questions about Obama's inexperience on international affairs, his biggest vulnerability against McCain. Biden has led the attacks on the Republican candidate, assailing McCain for supporting President George W. Bush's policies, including his argument that Iraq is the main front in the battle against terrorists.

McCain ``talks about the central concern is the war on terror, yet it's in Afghanistan,'' Biden said at a July 14 news conference in Washington. ``It's in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And John's policy in Iraq prevents us from having a larger strategy to deal with that.''

Biden visited Georgia earlier this month, and is urging that more money be spent there to help the country recover from its conflict with Russia. Biden has emerged as the leading Democrat to weigh in on the crisis.

Working-Class Appeal

Biden, a Roman Catholic and a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, also might help Obama with working-class, union households, where he ran poorly against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries. In the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles national survey this month, McCain is running ahead of Obama among Catholic voters.

The outspoken Biden, who once said ``my candor sometimes gets me in trouble,'' has spent more than 35 years in the Senate, placing him fifth in seniority. To some voters, this may seem to conflict with Obama's pledge to change the way business is done in Washington. During the primary debates, Biden on several occasions criticized Obama for his lack of Washington experience.

Last year, Biden said that he didn't believe Obama was ready to be president, citing his lack of foreign policy experience.

`No Harsher Critic'

``There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden,'' McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement. ``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.''

Biden saw his own presidential ambitions eclipsed by Obama's surging popularity earlier this year, dropping out after January's Iowa caucuses, where he got less than 1 percent of the vote.

It was Biden's second bid for the presidency. His previous campaign for the Democratic nomination collapsed in 1987 after reports that he had plagiarized portions of some speeches as well as a 1965 law school paper. Months later, he suffered a brain aneurysm and almost died; he fully recovered.

Since that campaign two decades ago, respect for Biden has grown among colleagues such as Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

Tough Views

Biden would bring some tough foreign policy views to an Obama White House.

For years, he has called on the White House to send more troops to Afghanistan and to pursue terrorists in Pakistan -- two positions Obama has since adopted.

He voted for the final U.S. Senate resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq, even as Obama, then a state senator, spoke out against it. Later, Biden called for the federalizing of the country, or the setting aside of three mostly autonomous governments for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. He has called on Bush to protect United Nations peacekeepers in Darfur and urged the UN to designate China as ``a violator of human rights.''

Biden is also known for his rhetorical stumbles -- including remarks about Obama.

In an interview last year with the New York Observer, Biden said Obama, who is 47, is the ``first mainstream African- American (presidential hopeful) who is articulate and bright and clean.'' He later apologized and said he didn't mean to be dismissive of any past black presidential candidates.

Indian Accent

Biden also drew fire for a perceived slight of Indian- Americans when he said that in Delaware, ``you cannot go into a 7- 11 or Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.'' He later explained that he was complimenting Indian entrepreneurship.

Still, he proved a tough campaigner, once disparaging Republican contender Rudy Giuliani for what Biden said was his limited experience. ``There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: A noun and a verb and 9/11,'' Biden said of the former New York mayor during a Democratic debate in October.

First elected in 1972, Biden has spent more than half his life in the U.S. Senate. Only three other senators -- Democrats Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts -- share that distinction, according to Congressional Quarterly.

His decades of votes may provide fodder to Republicans, who will comb his record for any potential controversies. The long years of service may also clash with Obama's promise to bring change to Washington.

Abortion Stance

Biden may run into trouble with some feminists and abortion-rights activists because he has repeatedly voted against ``partial birth abortion,'' a late-term-pregnancy procedure. He also opposes public funding of abortion.

``It goes to the question of whether or not you're going to impose a view to support something that is not a guaranteed right but an affirmative action to promote,'' he said on television's ``Meet the Press'' in April 2007.

The son of a Scranton, Pennsylvania, car dealer, he practiced law in Delaware and advanced from a county council post to the U.S. Senate at the age of 29. His wife, Neilia, and an infant daughter were killed in a car accident a month after he won his Senate seat for the first time. He only took the post after urging from Democratic congressional leaders. Biden later married Jill Tracy Jacobs, his current wife.

Judiciary Committee

In the Senate, Biden also served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995, where he helped push through a broad-based anti-crime law and other legislation.

He was criticized for his panel's handling of the 1991 nomination of Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. The committee initially didn't give much credence to professor Anita Hill's claims of past sexual harassment by Thomas until after they were leaked to news organizations.

Biden also drew fire from Republicans for his treatment of the two most recent Supreme Court justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, during their confirmation hearings. He opposed both, complaining that Roberts was ``brilliantly evasive'' about his views.

``Although I got criticized for being too tough on both of them, the Democratic Party wasn't tough enough,'' he said at a July 2007 presidential candidates' forum.

Biden and Obama are in basic agreement on trade and key economic issues. Both argue that labor and environmental protections should be built into any open-market agreements, a position supported by labor unions.

Both have said they want to rescind Bush's tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. Biden says even the targets of that initiative would applaud the move.

``Imagine what we could do if we had a president who had the nerve and the wisdom to understand that rich folks are just as patriotic as poor folks -- you just have to ask them,'' he said at a presidential candidates' forum last year. ``I spoke to a group of millionaires about taking away their tax cut, and when I explained how I'd use it, they gave me a standing ovation.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net.