<i>Biden, a national security veteran </i>
File photo shows Democratic vice presidential hopeful US Senator Joe Biden shakes hands with Gwyneth Navey, 8, of Florence, South Carolina on April 28, 2007, at the South Carolina Democratic Party Convention in Columbia, South Carolina. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama yesterday named Biden as his vice presidential choice.Photo: AFP
Barack Obama's running mate, Senator Joseph Biden, 65, brings decades of national security experience to the Democratic White House ticket, an area where the presumptive nominee is seen as lacking.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, the new vice presidential nominee has met many of the leading actors on the world stage, and is an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's foreign policy.
The Delaware Senator took the chance to flex his national security muscle in a just completed trip to Georgia, at the invitation of President Mikheil Saakashvili to discuss the still simmering showdown with Russia.
A Roman Catholic, with a no nonsense style, and an appeal to traditional grass roots Democrats, he will also appeal to working class voters with whom Obama has had a hard time connecting.
But the fact that Biden has spent more than half his life in the Senate may however be used against him by the campaign of Republican nominee John McCain, with thousands of votes to mine for controversy.
His presence on the ticket would also seem to somewhat undercut Obama's call for a wave of fundamental change to overwhelm political gridlock in Washington.
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.
In a presidential debate however last year, he offered a witty rejoineder when asked if he had the self-discipline to cut down on his trademark long-winded perorations simply saying "Yes.”
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