Obama names Biden as running mate

August 22, 2008

Refer: United States presidential election, 2008

Democratic White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama had cnosen on Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, a six-term senator who is a leading authority on foreign policy, as running mate.(according to a cellphone text message and e-mail messages sent by his campaign to thousands of Obama supporters early Saturday) A year ago, when he was himself running for the White House, Mr. Biden said Mr. Obama was “not yet ready” for the presidency.Mr. Biden is up for re-election to the Senate this year. Obama said he was not offended. Mr. Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972 when he was 29 and reached the constitutionally required age of 30 before he was sworn in.

Mr. Obama’s notification to the two other candidates — Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia — was confirmed by senior associates of both men.

Mr. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and moves easily among foreign leaders and diplomats.Biden, 65, brings decades of national security experience to the Democratic White House ticket, an area where the presumptive nominee is seen as lacking.
Biden is also somewhat of an unknown quantity. He has tried hard to tone down his notoriously long winded speaking style -- but is a clear candidate for verbal gaffes on the campaign trail.

Mr. Biden would complement Mr. Obama’s antiwar position in the general election match-up against Senator John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, who has supported the war. Mr. Biden is Catholic, giving him appeal to that important voting bloc, though he favors abortion rights.

Biden has a compelling life story to match that of Obama -- his years in the Senate have been tinged by tragedy -- he has recovered from two brain aneurysms.

He has commuted to Washington daily by train from his state of Delaware, following the death of his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash just before Christmas 1972.
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