'Regular Joe' Wades Into Fray

Dem VP in his element talking up a storm with voters
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 23, 2008 8:49 AM CDT
'Regular Joe' Wades Into Fray
Democratic vice president candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., poses with 2nd Lt. Deborah Sherrick, left, of Fresno Calif. and 1st Lt. Amy Slinker, of Anchorage, Alaska, Monday, Sept. 22, 2008.    (AP Photo/ Steve Ruark)

If VP candidates are a campaign’s attack dog, Joe Biden is “a big, thirsty St. Bernard,” who loves kissing babies and getting in the mix, reports the LA Times. Now that the media obsession with Sarah Palin is fading, reporters are remembering that Biden is still out on the hustings. And with his “folksy stories and plain speak,” he may be winning people over.

Biden plays up his working-class Catholic background, and may be gaining ground with the Rust Belt white voters Obama has struggled to win over —especially with his recent call for the wealthiest 5% to be "patriotic" and cough up more of the tax burden. He shows a Clintonian knack for listening, the Times notes, and his garrulous style “goes over big at a labor union hall in Akron.”
(More Joe Biden stories.)

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