Sen. Barack Obama has picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, two Democratic sources tell CNN. News of Biden's selection came after word that three Democrats who had been considered contenders, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, had been ruled out. The two Democratic sources who told CNN that Obama had chosen Biden spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Obama campaign says it plans to announce his vice presidential running mate in a text message Saturday morning. Obama was then expected to appear with his vice-presidential choice at an afternoon rally in Springfield, Illinois. Biden was long considered a likely choice for vice president, but the buzz surrounding him intensified after he returned earlier this week from a two-day trip to the Republic of Georgia after Russian troops invaded. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, brings years of experience that could help counter GOP arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy. Sen. John McCain's campaign quickly reacted to word that Biden would be Obama's running mate with a dig at Obama's foreign policy credentials.
"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a written 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 abandoned his own White House run after a poor showing in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. He also ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out after charges of plagiarism in a stump speech. The 65-year-old was first elected to the Senate in 1972. Shortly afterwards, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He considered resigning, but decided to continue with his political career. Biden is currently serving out his sixth term, making him Delaware's longest-serving senator. Biden is married and has three children. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and got a law degree from Syracuse. In 1988, Biden suffered an aneurysm and nearly died but has recovered fully.
Obama worked to keep his choice secret, although he addressed the issue broadly during the day in an interview. Biden will make his first big speech as the vice-presidential candidate on Wednesday, August 27 -- the third night of the Democratic convention. [End of report]
*This is the latest update: U.S. Senator Joe Biden has been selected to be Obama's running mate, according to Obama's official Web site and a text message sent to supporters early Saturday.
So the cat is finally out of the bag. Joe Biden is Obama's choice as his vice presidential running mate, so much for the announcement being made first on text message as Obama had plan. As an Obama supporter, I dont find the choice very surprising, in fact I think it is a very good choice. Out of all the candidates that were being considered for the VP role, I only knew about both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden because as you know, both of them were also running to be the Democratic Presidential nominee sometime ago. The most obvious choice for Obama to choose was of course Hillary Clinton for obvious reasons, but I'm glad that Obama didnt pick her straightaway just because she did well during the Primary season. Both Hillary and Biden has their strong and weak points of course. Hillary would be a good pick because she would bring her supporters who had voted for her and boost Obama's chances of winning the election later. Obama is finding it difficult to gain the support from the group of people that had voted for her. If he had choose her instead, I think some people would think that Obama was being pressurized to do so and that he would be over reliant on her in his bid to be the next President which would make him look weaker in my opinion.
As for Biden, he would be a good pick because he has a lot of experience in foreign policy, which would be a great help to Obama who is considered to be a new guy on the block and also lacking of foreign policy experience. Obama has said in the past that he wanted a VP that is going to be able to challenge his thinking and not simply be a yes person, and I think Joe Biden will fit that bill perfectly. Biden voted to authorize the war in Iraq, but long ago became one of the Senate's surest critics of the conflict. I think he would complement well on what Obama is lacking. The only bad thing that I can think of about the choice is probably that he didnt do too well during the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Nevertheless, I strongly believe he is a good pick for Obama and they will be a good team. The ironic thing about all this is that Biden himself has said that he would not accept the vice president role if he was offered and as you can read from the report, he has also said in the past that Barack Obama is not ready to be the President. It is a definitely a big change of heart for Biden. I dont know what Obama has said to him to accept the vice president role, but whatever it is, it worked.
One interesting thing about picking Joe Biden is that it also shows that for all his self-confidence, Barack Obama is worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. Many people have said that Obama was being too passive when he was still battling it out with Hillary Clinton and that he has not been aggressive enough on McCain. With Joe Biden on his side now, he would definitely not have that problem anymore. The question in everybody's mind right now would be who would McCain pick as his running mate? Im sure Obama's decision to pick Joe Biden will have an effect on McCain's pick whoever that is. The latest news Im hearing today was that McCain has picked Mitt Romney to be his running mate according to Politico.com. This is just rumours, nobody in his campaign has officially confirm it yet. I think it would a brilliant choice if it is indeed Romney. I quite like him when he was running to be the Republican Presidential nominee, so it would be great to see him playing some role in the election later.
Whatever it is, the next few days and months would be exciting to watch. I cant wait to hear what Biden has to say. The campaign will now be able to get into full gear with the vice president selected. I cant wait for the Democratic convention which will start on Monday. It will be a great week to look forward too Im sure! Till then, enjoy your weekend.
*The report was taken from CNN.
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