Joe Biden:" You can't call yourself maverick when all you've been is a sidekick" (video)

BarackObamadotcom, video (15:11):

Joe Biden talks about what he does in his neighborhood, to a crowd of over 1100 folks at William Jewell College Liberty, MO on October 9th, 2008.

Barack Obama

"Tina Fey As Sarah Palin In VP Debate On SNL (VIDEO)"

Huffington Post with video (11:39):

Saturday Night Live's sketch about the vice presidential debate starred Queen Latifah as debate moderator Gwen Ifill, as well as Tina Fey, reprising her role as Governor Sarah Palin.

Joe Biden in Michigan, ON FIRE - "McCain, Bush 44" (Video)

BarackObamadotcom: Joe Biden, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, video (30:29):

Joe Biden calls out John McCain for promising the same change that George W. Bush promised. He notes that under that leadership there are record numbers of home foreclosures, 46 million Americans without health insurance, extreme losses of jobs, and multiple military deployments. He urges Americans to rise up and fight to make a change.

Howie P.S.: Short version (01:05) here.

Barack Obama

"Joe Biden Speaks to HQ Staff and Volunteers"(video)

BarackObamadotcom, video (02:25):

Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks to the Obama campaign staff in their headquarters.

"Palin's Hockey Rink Leads To Legal Trouble in Town She Led" (with video)

Wall Street Journal:

WASILLA, Alaska -- The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.

"It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."

Associated Press

Ms. Palin, now Alaska's governor and Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate, has pointed to her two terms as Wasilla's mayor, from 1996 to 2002, as evidence that she has enough executive experience to take on the presidency, should the need arise -- more than Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who touts his own background as a community organizer in Chicago.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities," Ms. Palin said Wednesday in her acceptance speech at the Republican convention.

Litigation resulting from the dispute over Ms. Palin's sports-complex project is still in the courts, with the land's former owner seeking hundreds of thousands of additional dollars from the city.

Hockey is much loved in Wasilla, and Ms. Palin, whose son was a star player, wanted to build an indoor rink, with a track, basketball courts and soccer field. In the late 1990s, the city sought a 145-acre parcel owned by the Nature Conservancy, which wanted to sell the land to buy more environmentally sensitive property elsewhere. City officials negotiated a price of $126,000. Months passed without the city's securing a signed purchase agreement, according to the city's attorney, Tom Klinkner of Birch, Horton, Bittner & Cherot.

At the same time, Gary Lundgren, a Fairbanks real-estate investor, was in talks with the Nature Conservancy to buy a larger adjacent property. As discussions between the environmental group and the city dragged on, Mr. Lundgren said, he purchased the entire site for about $1 million.

The city sued Mr. Lundgren and the Nature Conservancy, arguing that Wasilla had had a deal. In 2001, a federal district court judge ruled in Wasilla's favor. Mr. Lundgren appealed, but the city believed it would prevail, according to Mr. Klinkner.

Ms. Palin marched ahead, making the public case for a sales-tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue to pay for the sports center, which was to feature a running track, basketball courts and a hockey rink. At the time, the city's annual budget was about $20 million. In a March 2002 referendum, residents approved the mayor's plan by a 20-vote margin, 306 to 286. The city cleared roads, installed utilities and made preparations to build.

Later that year, Ms. Palin's final one as mayor, the federal judge reversed his own decision and ruled that the property rightfully belonged to Mr. Lundgren. Wasilla had never signed the proper papers, the court ruled.

Greg Hensel /Alaska Stock

In Wasilla, Alaska, the construction of an indoor sports facility (shown above), initiated during Sarah Palin's term as mayor, has led to years of litigation over property rights and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for the town.

Mr. Lundgren said he had offered to give smaller parcels to the city free of charge, but the city held out for a larger tract. The former chief of the city finance department, Ted Leonard, says he doesn't recall such an offer.

After Ms. Palin left office, the city decided to take 80 acres of Mr. Lundgren's property through eminent domain. An Alaska court confirmed the city's right to do so and ordered that an arbitrator determine the appropriate price.

Last year, the arbitrator ordered the city to pay $836,378 for the 80-acre parcel, far more than the $126,000 Wasilla originally thought it would pay for a piece of land 65 acres larger. The arbitrator also determined that the city owed Mr. Lundgren $336,000 in interest. Wasilla's legal bill since the eminent domain action has come to roughly $250,000 so far, according to Mr. Klinkner, the city attorney.

Mr. Lundgren has appealed the decision, arguing that the arbitrator should have awarded him more interest. "It has been 10 years; it's just insane," said Mr. Lundgren, who now lives in Panama. "All [Ms. Palin] had to do was close the transaction."

The McCain-Palin campaign referred questions about the sports complex to Mr. Leonard, the former city finance chief. He blamed the Nature Conservancy for dealing with two different potential buyers at one time. "That's what caused the confusion," he said.

"At the time, with the information she had, [Ms. Palin] made the right decision," Mr. Leonard said. "But you know what? Litigation happens."

The sports facility is finished, set against forest and mountain ranges. Inside, locals kick soccer balls and skate laps on the rink. Last year, it hosted a statewide wrestling tournament.

"All I can say about the sports complex is that it was done on time and under budget," said Donald Moore, a Palin ally who managed the construction. "It was done legally, and for someone else to say it could have been done differently in a better way, that's strictly their opinion."

Ms. Palin cited her mayoral duties as partial evidence of her executive experience.

Dianne Woodruff, a Wasilla city councilwoman and critic of Ms. Palin's performance, agreed.

"If people are going to be voting on her based on her experience as Wasilla's mayor, then they should know how she did in the job," Ms. Woodruff said, "the good, the bad and the ugly."

Howie P.S.: For comparison purposes, watch Joe Biden on Meet The Press, interviewed by Tom Brokaw, video (48:19). Tom Friedman follows Biden on the show. You have my permission to skip him. Nico Pitney asks "Sarah Palin: George Bush In Lipstick?" and lands (at the moment) on the top of the front page of The Huffington Post. There is a photo there to support his argument.

"Joe Biden On Fire" (with video)

Jed Report, with video (03:13):

This is awesome -- Joe Biden just tears John McCain and Sarah Palin apart for completely ignoring every single major economic issue facing America and for offering nothing but sarcastic personal attacks.

"Obama Explains His Choice, Reacts To Palin" (with video)

60 Minutes (CBS News) with video (14:37):

Sen. Obama went into the Democratic convention locked in a dead heat with Republican rival John McCain and needed to do three things: introduce his running mate to the country, draw sharp distinctions between himself and his Republican opponent, and unify a Democratic party badly split by a bruising primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. By most accounts he accomplished all three.

He attracted 84,000 people to Invesco Field in Denver and another 40 million to their television sets all across America - more American saw his speech than watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

We began our conversation with the new Democratic candidates backstage just moments after the most improbable nominee had given the most important speech of his young career.

Asked if he ever doubted it was going to happen, Sen. Obama told Kroft, "Of course."

When?

"Well, let's see. About a year ago we were down 30 in Iowa. But I never doubted that it could happen. I never doubted that if we were able to mobilize the energy that you saw in that stadium," Obama said. "All across the country."

"I knew it was gonna happen before he did. I was running like the devil. I watched. I thought I was pretty good, but I watched. I watched. This guy just sort of grabbed the lightening, ya know, just grabbed it. And you could tell, Barack, I tell ya, my team knew, I knew in August," Sen. Biden told Kroft.

"We were doing okay. But this is exciting," Obama remarked.

"Were you surprised to be up here?" Kroft asked Biden.

"I was surprised, I'm truly honored to be up here. I'm a great admirer, we're friends and we fit," Biden said.

By the time Kroft continued the conversation with them the next day in Pittsburgh, the landscape had already changed: Senator McCain tried to steal the Democrat's thunder by announcing that Alaska’s conservative first-term governor, 44-year-old Sarah Palin, would be his running mate - a move widely seen as an attempt to try and siphon disaffected supporters of Senator Clinton and blue collar voters in battleground states where Obama has been the weakest.

And a few hours after McCain's announcement, Senators Obama and Biden seemed as surprised as everyone else.

Asked what he thinks of McCain's vice presidential choice, Obama told Kroft, "She seems to have a compelling life story. Obviously, she's a fine mother and an up-and-coming public servant. My sense is that she subscribes to John McCain's agenda."

"Does the fact that he chose as his vice president someone what has less experience than you take that weapon out of his arsenal?" Kroft asked.

"Well, you know, I think that's a good question to address to Senator McCain," Obama replied. "Of course, the issue of experience is going to be relevant. And if I were running against me, that's something that I would try to make an issue of as well. Particularly if I had been in Washington as long as John McCain had."

"She's a life-long member of the NRA. She's a hunter. Her husband's a member of the United Steel Worker Union. Blue collar guy. Got a son on the way to Iraq. It seems like just the kind of person who would appeal to voters in states that you absolutely have to win," Kroft remarked. "And they have to win."

"Well, look, I am happy if this ends up being a referendum on what's going to be good for blue collar workers," Obama said. "I'll put my guy, Joe Biden, up against anybody when it comes to fighting on behalf of those families, because he's been there. He comes out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He's been fightin' for those folks ever since he got into the Senate. And he hasn't stopped. And he hasn't forgotten where he's come from."

"You know, I think we really underestimate people in the neighborhood. In the neighborhoods I came from, you came from. I really think we underestimate them," Biden remarked. "People get it. I think they're looking for more than whether or not Joe Biden's from Scranton and she hunts. I think that's you know, 'What ya gonna do about it?'"

"But you tried really hard to reach these people. You went and sipped beer, which I know you don't particularly like - I mean you even…," Kroft remarked.

"Steve, I had a beer last night. I mean, where do these stories come from, man?" Obama asked.

"I'm the one… [that] doesn't drink," Biden pointed out.

"Where does the story come from that…I don't like beer? …C'mon, man," Obama said.

"You even tried bowling," Kroft remarked.

"Time out there," Obama said.

"I've got to defend my bowling honor here," Obama said, laughing. "It is true that my bowling score left something to be desired. The reason I bowled though, wasn't to try to get votes. If I had been tryin' to get votes, I promise you I would have been avoiding a bowling alley. The reason I was there was to campaign. And we had great fun. But here’s the bottom line: I wouldn't have been elected to the United States Senate out of Illinois, which is 12 percent African American if I didn't have some broad appeal. So, the mythology that's developed that somehow I can't get those votes is refuted by the very fact that I'm sittin' in this chair."

"Is that one of the reasons you picked Senator Biden?" Kroft asked.

"What reason is that, Steve?" Obama asked.

"You said you've got Joe Biden working for you in Pennsylvania. …States like Pennsylvania," Kroft explained.

"Let me tell you the reason I picked Joe Biden. Number one, he can step in and become president. And I don't think anybody has any doubt about that," Obama said.

"Number two is that if I'm in the room making the kinds of tough decisions that the next president's gonna have to make, both on domestic policy and on international policy, then I want the counsel and advice of somebody who's not gonna agree with me a 100 percent of [the] time. In fact, somebody who's independent enough that can push back and give me different perspectives and make sure that I'm catching any blind spots that I have. And Joe Biden doesn't bite his tongue," he continued.

"You've had some differences over pretty substantial issues. Iraq for one," Kroft pointed out.

"Actually, we haven't," Biden said. "Look, Barack was right. He not only got it right about bein' against the war, I got it wrong about underestimating the incompetence of this administration when we gave the president the power we gave him at the time. He knew accurately that even, not even being outside. Maybe it gave you a better perspective. That that meant he was going to war. Bush told me he wasn't going to war. I thought they meant it. You're standing outside. You knew they didn't mean it."

"Well, one of the reasons that I love Joe and one of the reasons I think he's gonna be such an effective vice president is he's blunt when he's right, and he's blunt when he's wrong. And that means that I can trust his counsel. And that's what, I think, a president needs from a vice president," Obama explained. "Look there is no choice I could have made where the person's gonna agree with me a 100 percent of the time. And I wouldn't want that person. Michelle doesn't agree with me a 100 percent of the time. You know, in fact with Michelle, if I can get to 50 percent, I'm feeling pretty good. What you want is somebody whose core values you believe in, who you trust, who you think is a straight shooter."

Biden acknowledged that from time to time, he had put his foot in his mouth.

"There was an issue in 1988 involving plagiarism which I'm sure the Republicans are working on a campaign commercial now about it," Kroft pointed out.

"I'm sure that's probably true," Biden acknowledged.

Asked what he's learned about politics and running for office in those 20 years, Biden said, "I made a mistake. I made a mistake 20, 21, 22 years ago. I was arrogant. I didn't think I had to prepare. I showed up at the debate and I failed to quote somebody. A guy named Neil Kinnock. And I just ask people and everyone else, look at the last 20 years of my career since that allegation occurred."

"But, I think that I have a record that people can go back and examine and decide whether or not I mean what I say. No matter how I say it whether I'm consistent with what I've asserted I care about. That's all I care about. But, you know, there's gonna be a lot, I'm sure a lot of things said about it," he added.

"I like who he is. And I think the American people will. And I think, together we're gonna win this election. And Joe's gonna end up being one of the finest vice presidents we've ever had," Obama said.

"Have you talked? Have you spoken specifically about what your role would be in an Obama administration?" Kroft asked.

"Yes, he had just a few questions that were important to him, but were threshold questions. If we didn't pass that threshold, he wasn't interested," Obama said.

"I don't want to go and just hang out. I can help Barack a lot more from chairman from the Foreign Relations Committee or from the United States Senate," Biden explained. "But, when he indicated to me he was lookin' for me to give my best judgment and for him to consider it, that's good enough for me. I'm not lookin' for a portfolio. I'm not lookin' for anything other than to be able to be part of the change this guy's been talkin' about. And I very bluntly, I've been talkin' about."

"What's your role in the campaign? Can you make a difference in this race? And how do you do that?" Kroft asked Biden.

"The thing I can do is hopefully go into Scranton and Wilmington and Sacramento and other places and say, 'I know the guy,'" Biden replied. "Politicians know quality when they see it in other politicians."

Biden said he meant that as a compliment.

"'Cause he's spent most of his campaign trying to separate himself," Kroft pointed out.

"He is separate. But here's the bottom line: the thing about him that everybody misunderstands and this boss, here we go. We may have our first difference here. But, all kidding aside, here's the deal: everybody knows the way he's caught on to this yearning in the American public. But, the second piece of that is it's not only the idealism - you gotta be tough. You got to be tough to be the president of the United States of America. And if you don't have political good sense, if you're not politically tough, let me tell you something, I don't want you being my president," Biden said.

"And you think he is?" Kroft asked.

"Absolutely," Biden said.

"One of the weaknesses in terms of this campaign is that there are people out there who don't think that you have a punch," Kroft remarked. "A killer instinct. That you are a very deliberative, judicious person who prides himself on building consensus, but it's not in your DNA to be confrontational."

"The fact [is] that I don't go out of my way to call people names, or try to take cheap shots, and that I try not to throw the first punch. But, to see if I can find a way to work together with people, sometimes leads people to underestimate what I've got," Obama said. "I think it's fair to say that if I couldn't not only take a punch, but occasionally throw one, I wouldn't be sittin' here."

"You've just come through a very historic week. I mean, politically, this is a real milestone in American history. But, yet, there was also no mention made of it. You made no mention of it and the Democratic Party made almost no mention of it. Why is that?" Kroft asked. "I mean, you're the first black person ever to be nominated by a major party."

"Yeah, I think people notice that," Obama replied, laughing.

Asked if he didn't think he needed to bring it to people's attention, Obama told Kroft, "I think people understood the significance of it."

"Is part of the fact that you don't wanna be considered as a black candidate?" Kroft asked.

"Well, I look it is absolutely true that I wanna be the president for all America. You know, this is not a symbolic exercise on my part. I intend to win this race so that I can work on behalf of all families in America. If I can get healthcare for every American, if I can make sure that the economy is providing jobs that pay a decent wage. If I can solve this energy problem so that we're more secure, if I can make an education system work for every child, then that's gonna be good for black Americans, that's gonna be good for Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, white Americans. That's gonna be good for everybody," Obama explained.

"One last question. You are running against the record of an administration that is one of the most unpopular in the history of the country," Kroft said.

"Good reason," Biden remarked.

"…And there are people that believe you should be much further ahead in the polls than you are. What do you say to that? And are you comfortable with the way this race is going and where you are right now?" Kroft asked.

"This is gonna be a rough, tough battle," Obama said. "The Republicans don't govern very well. But, they know how to campaign. And, you know, what I would expect is that it's gonna take-mid-October before a whole lot of people start making up their minds. And there's nothing wrong with that. This notion that somehow this should be a cakewalk and I should just walk into the election with, you know, a 10, 15 point lead, I think doesn't give the American people enough credit. They wanna get this thing right."

H/t to Alayna Setter.

Barack Obama

Joe's Speech (video)

MSNBC, video (22:24).

Howie P.S.: The only surprise of the night: "Obama makes unscripted appearance at the DNC." Video of his visit follows Joe's speech on the link above. Joel Connelly (Seattle P-I) treats us to "Convention highs and lows." Jed Lewison has a mini-pundit roundup (with videos) on last night's doings.

Barack Obama

Dennis Kucinich: "Wake up America" (with video)

truthout, with video:

It's Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added 4 trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president's oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq's oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy.

We can't afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.

Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.

This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can't open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is a call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden.

Wake up, America. Wake up, America. Wake up, America.

Howie P.S.: Just slightly off-topic, the front page of the Daily Kos features georgia10 on the media's obsession with "PUMA hunting."

Barack Obama

"Biden Camp Pressed Hard For a Slot on the Ticket"

Wall Street Journal (page one):

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate reached a pivotal point in a secret meeting on the night of Aug. 6. Sen. Biden was whisked into a Minneapolis hotel room through a back entrance before Sen. Obama left for his Hawaii vacation. They talked one-on-one for 90 minutes. "It was spirited and pragmatic," says one adviser who was briefed.

The rendezvous capped weeks of pitching by Biden advisers. It culminated in Sen. Obama's formal announcement by text message around 3 a.m. Saturday that Sen. Biden was the choice, and led to the big question that now looms over the choice: Will a 35-year veteran of Washington help or hurt a political newcomer running on a message of "change"?

As a 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. Biden got less than 1% of the delegates in the opening January Iowa caucus, and dropped out of the race quickly. But as a candidate to be Sen. Obama's running mate, the veteran Delaware senator outcampaigned rivals by successfully arguing that his benefits outweighed some considerable baggage.

Passes Its High-Profile National Test

When the Obama campaign's vice-presidential vetters sought financial statements, political speeches and medical records, Sen. Biden's team turned the grueling task into an opportunity to sell their man. Their most obvious pitch was his strong experience in foreign policy at a time of crisis, one of Sen. Obama's biggest weak spots with voters. Sen. Biden's foreign-policy director traveled with Sen. Obama to Iraq and Afghanistan during his overseas tour in late July, giving the presidential contender a close-up sense of the expertise the Biden circle could provide.

But Biden allies also labored hard to turn one of his potential liabilities -- his long career in Washington -- into a strength. Point one: Sen. Biden took the train out of Washington almost every night to go home to Delaware. Two: his humble roots, as the son of a car dealer in Scranton, Pa., a pivotal state for Democrats. Biden aides pushed the idea that their man could help with working-class whites who eluded Sen. Obama during the primaries.

Team Biden also showed some sharp elbows against rivals for the No. 2 slot. When news surfaced that the wife of another leading vice-presidential contender, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, made nearly $1 million a year on corporate boards, Biden backers quickly pointed out to friends and former colleagues in the Obama camp that Jill Biden made far less working as a teacher.

Meanwhile, backers of Sen. Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine also were trying to put the best light on their candidates. Gov. Kaine's aides, for example, pointed to YouTube videos showing him firing up crowds in Spanish, reaching a key demographic in a swing state. Sen. Bayh's partisans emphasized stature in Indiana, potentially another key state.

On Thursday Sen. Obama went to a tiny compartment in the middle of his campaign bus and called Sen. Bayh and other contenders to tell them they weren't his choice. He then reached Sen. Biden at the dentist's office where his wife was having a root canal to give him the good news.

When the two men appeared together Saturday afternoon, Sen. Obama explained his choice by invoking the talking points that Sen. Biden's allies had pushed during the vetting process. "Joe Biden is that rare mix," Sen. Obama told the crowd. "For decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him."

Republicans now are quickly trying to tear that logic apart. They're painting Sen. Biden as an old-style insider, with longstanding ties to trial lawyers and lobbyists and a taste for pork-barrel spending, which their nominee, Sen. John McCain, has opposed.

The pairing of the two Democratic senators against Sen. McCain carries some ironies. Sens. Biden and Obama rarely have crossed paths in the Senate, aside from Sen. Obama's presence on the Foreign Relations Committee, where Sen. Biden is chairman. Sens. Biden and McCain have worked frequently together, and have much more in common.

Each is a foreign-policy heavyweight in the Senate and has shown a special interest in Eastern European affairs. In 2005, the pair worked together on behalf of Kyrgyzstan and Moldova, according to McCain Senate records. Sen. McCain and Sen. Biden were co-authors of the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution in 1999 that would have authorized President Bill Clinton to use "all necessary force" to resolve the conflict.

Sen. Biden and Sen. McCain have acknowledged each other as friends and on Saturday, they continued to speak fondly of each other -- in between attacks. "I've known John for 35 years, he served our country with extraordinary courage," Sen. Biden said during his introduction rally in Springfield, Ill. "I know he wants to do right by America."

At the same event, Sen. Biden nevertheless got personal, making fun of Sen. McCain's several homes -- saying that in contrast to how he and many voters sit at their kitchen table to figure out how to pay the household bills, Sen. McCain will "have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at."

"Joe and I have been friends for many, many years, and we know each other very well," Sen. McCain told CBS News over the weekend.

There are few outward signs of Sens. Obama and Biden having been close as colleagues. They give one another scarce attention in their memoirs, "The Audacity of Hope," by Sen. Obama, and "Promises to Keep," by Sen. Biden.

While their debate exchanges early in the primary campaign were mostly friendly, Sen. Biden did draw attention to Sen. Obama's limited foreign-policy credentials, in comments which Republicans have been swift to repeat. Sen. Biden characterized the junior senator as a "Johnny-come-lately" on Afghanistan, and praised him for having adopted Sen. Biden's own ideas.

In another quote from the primary race quickly picked up by the McCain campaign for a national commercial, Sen. Biden called Sen. Obama "not ready" for the presidency -- exactly the theme the McCain camp increasingly has been striking.

Sen. Biden proved to be a vocal campaigner for Sen. Obama once he became the party's presumptive nominee in June. When Republicans criticized Sen. Obama last month for not holding any hearings on Afghanistan in his Foreign Relations subcommittee on the region, Sen. Biden stepped in to defend his colleague, saying that as chairman of the full committee, he had made a policy of holding those hearings himself.

Both men usually have voted the same way on issues which have divided Senate Democrats in the last two Congresses: in favor of immigration reform, against the Central American Free Trade Agreement and for tougher ethics rules. But in the past year they have differed over key votes on whether to withhold funding for the war in Iraq -- Sen. Obama voted against funding, Sen. Biden voted for it -- and the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Sen. Obama eventually supported, and Sen. Biden remains against.

Sen. Obama riled many in the left of the Democratic party in July by voting for the renewal of FISA, which authorized the National Security Agency's secret wiretapping program and included immunity for participating telephone companies. Ahead of the vote on the bill, Sen. Biden issued a press release attacking Sen. John McCain for his support of the program, though many Democrats also voted for it. In the release, he said, "Like President Bush, Sen. McCain is presenting the American people with a false choice: national security or civil liberties. We need a president who understands that we can have both."

Sen. Biden may provide his old friend Sen. McCain more fodder for attacks. Sen. Biden is one of the least wealthy members of the Senate and proudly cites his working-class roots. But he's also collected $6.5 million in campaign contributions from lobbyists, lawyers and law firms since 1989, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. That includes $214,000 from executives of former credit-card giant MBNA, now a unit of Bank of America Corp., the center said. He's been a strong supporter of the home-state bank, backing a tough bankruptcy bill in 2005 that was one of MBNA's top legislative priorities. Mr. Obama opposed the bill, and criticizes Mr. McCain's support for it.

Vetting the Candidates

None of Sen. Biden's vulnerabilities was likely a surprise to the Obama team, which conducted a thorough vetting of the candidates. The team, led by Caroline Kennedy and ex-Justice Department official Eric Holder, initially cast a wide net, but in the end focused more on Sens. Biden and Bayh and Gov. Kaine.

Sen. Obama sought private meetings with the three. Sen. Biden's turn came in Minneapolis in early August, when Sen. Obama was there for a $1,000 a person fund-raiser. He had Sen. Biden sneak into a downtown hotel through the back door.

In the meeting, Sen. Biden argued that his longtime experience of working between the legislative and executive branches would "help carry out Obama's agenda of change in a broken Washington," one aide said. He also talked about his family's modest roots in Scranton.

Four days later, Sen. Obama left for his Hawaii vacation -- just as the Russian-Georgian fighting erupted. When Sen. Biden was invited by the Georgian president to visit and offer advice, "we welcomed his going," one Obama aide said. "That was fortuitously well-timed," one Biden adviser said.

To this point in mid-August, at least as much speculation was focused on Sen. Bayh and Gov. Kaine as on Sen. Biden. But when TV footage began airing that showed Sen. Biden with Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili, Sen. Bayh confided to a friend that this hurt his chances to become the vice-presidential pick.

In Hawaii, Sen. Obama was leaning toward Sen. Biden, though aides say the crisis in Georgia wasn't decisive. They say Sen. Obama was equally drawn to Sen. Biden's compelling personal story of highs and lows.

Within weeks of his election in 1972, Sen. Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car crash, and his two sons injured. He was sworn into office from the hospital room of his sons, both of whom have made a complete recovery. He has since remarried and had a daughter.

Once Sen. Obama had settled in his own mind on Sen. Biden, "he wanted to see how the decision sat with him" for a while, an aide says. Meanwhile the guessing game was in full swing. Sen. Obama's first stop after his Hawaiian vacation was an event where both he and Sen. McCain were asked questions by pastor Rick Warren, the nationally popular evangelical minister and author. The event showed that Sen. Obama's cool and cerebral style could be trumped by Sen. McCain's forceful directness.

For example, when asked, "At what point does a baby have human rights?" Sen. Obama responded, "That's above my pay grade" and then talked about "theological perspective," "scientific perspective" and "specificity." Sen. McCain's immediate answer: "At the moment of conception." Some Biden advisers called friends in the Obama camp, arguing that Sen. Biden, a Roman Catholic and more senior than Sen. McCain in the Senate, could be an effective attack dog against Sen. McCain on a range of issues.

When they were quizzed in return about Sen. Biden's proclivity to make gaffes and be verbose, a Biden adviser had a ready comeback. "After having a president for eight years who can't go beyond talking points, it's a good thing that Biden can dig into the issues, even if he occasionally goes overboard," he said.

'Joe Being Joe'

When Sen. Biden returned to the U.S. from his overseas trip to Georgia and faced reporters waiting on his driveway, he called out from his car, "I'm not the one." That gave some Bayh supporters hope until an email was circulated among Bayh supporters, "That's just Joe being Joe, being funny."

On Thursday, Sen. Obama made campaign appearances in Virginia with Gov. Kaine, then still considered to be in the running. The two men didn't discuss his decision, an aide said.

Later that afternoon on his private campaign bus, Sen. Obama told his aides, "It's time to make some phone calls." After receiving his, Sen. Biden informed his family, who began gathering -- in the glare of TV lights -- at his Wilmington, Del., home. He waited until the next evening to tell his senior advisers that he needed their help to write a speech -- to accept Sen. Obama's offer to become his running mate.

Barack Obama

Meet Joe Biden: Springfield, Illinois August 23, 2008 (video)

Video from MSNBC (33:52).

Barack Obama

"Biden Chosen": Early Reactions

David Goldstein (Horses Ass):"Obama taps Joe Biden as VP."

Al Giordano (The Field): "Biden: Second Chance for The Everyman."

Jed Lewison (The Jed Report): "The field is set: It's Obama-Biden vs. Bush-McCain."

Barack Obama

"Almost everybody agrees: "Joe is Right" (video)"

From 11/17/07, video (01:34).

"Republicans and Our Enemies"

Joe Biden (Wall Street Journal):

On Wednesday, Joe Lieberman wrote on this page that the Democratic Party he and I grew up in has drifted far from the foreign policy espoused by Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy.

In fact, it is the policies that President George W. Bush has pursued, and that John McCain would continue, that are divorced from that great tradition – and from the legacy of Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Sen. Lieberman is right: 9/11 was a pivotal moment. History will judge Mr. Bush's reaction less for the mistakes he made than for the opportunities he squandered.

The president had a historic opportunity to unite Americans and the world in common cause. Instead – by exploiting the politics of fear, instigating an optional war in Iraq before finishing a necessary war in Afghanistan, and instituting policies on torture, detainees and domestic surveillance that fly in the face of our values and interests – Mr. Bush divided Americans from each other and from the world.

At the heart of this failure is an obsession with the "war on terrorism" that ignores larger forces shaping the world: the emergence of China, India, Russia and Europe; the spread of lethal weapons and dangerous diseases; uncertain supplies of energy, food and water; the persistence of poverty; ethnic animosities and state failures; a rapidly warming planet; the challenge to nation states from above and below.

Instead, Mr. Bush has turned a small number of radical groups that hate America into a 10-foot tall existential monster that dictates every move we make.

The intersection of al Qaeda with the world's most lethal weapons is a deadly serious problem. Al Qaeda must be destroyed. But to compare terrorism with an all-encompassing ideology like communism and fascism is evidence of profound confusion.

Terrorism is a means, not an end, and very different groups and countries are using it toward very different goals. Messrs. Bush and McCain lump together, as a single threat, extremist groups and states more at odds with each other than with us: Sunnis and Shiites, Persians and Arabs, Iraq and Iran, al Qaeda and Shiite militias. If they can't identify the enemy or describe the war we're fighting, it's difficult to see how we will win.

The results speak for themselves.

On George Bush's watch, Iran, not freedom, has been on the march: Iran is much closer to the bomb; its influence in Iraq is expanding; its terrorist proxy Hezbollah is ascendant in Lebanon and that country is on the brink of civil war.

Beyond Iran, al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan – the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 – are stronger now than at any time since 9/11. Radical recruitment is on the rise. Hamas controls Gaza and launches rockets at Israel every day. Some 140,000 American troops remain stuck in Iraq with no end in sight.

Because of the policies Mr. Bush has pursued and Mr. McCain would continue, the entire Middle East is more dangerous. The United States and our allies, including Israel, are less secure.

The election in November is a vital opportunity for America to start anew. That will require more than a great soldier. It will require a wise leader.

Here, the controversy over engaging Iran is especially instructive.

Last week, John McCain was very clear. He ruled out talking to Iran. He said that Barack Obama was "naïve and inexperienced" for advocating engagement; "What is it he wants to talk about?" he asked.

Well, for a start, Iran's nuclear program, its support for Shiite militias in Iraq, and its patronage of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Beyond bluster, how would Mr. McCain actually deal with these dangers? You either talk, you maintain the status quo, or you go to war. If Mr. McCain has ruled out talking, we're stuck with an ineffectual policy or military strikes that could quickly spiral out of control.

Sen. Obama is right that the U.S. should be willing to engage Iran on its nuclear program without "preconditions" – i.e. without insisting that Iran first freeze the program, which is the very subject of any negotiations. He has been clear that he would not become personally involved until the necessary preparations had been made and unless he was convinced his engagement would advance our interests.

President Nixon didn't demand that China end military support to the Vietnamese killing Americans before meeting with Mao. President Reagan didn't insist that the Soviets freeze their nuclear arsenal before sitting down with Mikhail Gorbachev. Even George W. Bush – whose initial disengagement allowed dangers to proliferate – didn't demand that Libya relinquish its nuclear program, that North Korea give up its plutonium, or even that Iran stop aiding those attacking our soldiers in Iraq before authorizing talks.

The net effect of demanding preconditions that Iran rejects is this: We get no results and Iran gets closer to the bomb.

Equally unwise is the Bush-McCain fixation on regime change. The regime is abhorrent, but their logic defies comprehension: renounce the bomb – and when you do, we're still going to take you down. The result is that Iran accelerated its efforts to produce fissile material.

Instead of regime change, we should focus on conduct change. We should make it very clear to Iran what it risks in terms of isolation if it continues to pursue a dangerous nuclear program but also what it stands to gain if it does the right thing. That will require keeping our allies in Europe, as well as Russia and China, on the same page as we ratchet up pressure.

It also requires a much more sophisticated understanding than Mr. Bush or Mr. McCain seem to possess that by publicly engaging Iran – including through direct talks – we can exploit cracks within the ruling elite, and between Iran's rulers and its people, who are struggling economically and stifled politically.

Iran's people need to know that their government, not the U.S., is choosing confrontation over cooperation. Our allies and partners need to know that the U.S. will go the extra diplomatic mile – if we do, they are much more likely to stand with us if diplomacy fails and force proves necessary.

The Bush-McCain saber rattling is the most self-defeating policy imaginable. It achieves nothing. But it forces Iranians who despise the regime to rally behind their leaders. And it spurs instability in the Middle East, which adds to the price of oil, with the proceeds going right from American wallets into Tehran's pockets.

The worst nightmare for a regime that thrives on tension with America is an America ready, willing and able to engage. Since when has talking removed the word "no" from our vocabulary?

It's amazing how little faith George Bush, Joe Lieberman and John McCain have in themselves – and in America.

Barack Obama

"Barack Obama on the Biden-Gelb Plan for Iraq" (video)

HeadToHead08:

Video from Cedar Rapids, IA--July 30, 2007(02:01).