WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware to be his vice presidential running mate, a Democratic official said late Friday, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well versed in defense and foreign-policy issues.
Biden, who twice has sought the White House, is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.
In more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and constitutional issues.
The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning. Obama’s campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.
The Democratic National Convention meets this week in Denver to hand Obama his long- sought presidential nomination, and then confirm Biden.
In selecting Biden, Obama passed over former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival across months of primaries and caucuses.
Even so, Obama has gone to great lengths to gain the confidence of her primary voters, agreeing to allow her name to be placed in nomination at the convention and permitting a roll-call vote that threatens to expose lingering divisions.
Biden, 65, slowly emerged as Obama’s choice during a long day and night of political suspense as other contenders gradually fell away.
First, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine let it be known he had been ruled out. Then came word that Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana had been passed over.Other finalists were Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Texas Rep. Chet Edwards.
Among those on the short list, Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy — areas in which Obama rates relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain.
While the war in Iraq has been supplanted as the campaign’s top issues by the economy in recent months, the recent Russian invasion of Georgia has returned foreign policy to the forefront.
A native of Scranton, Pa., Biden also has working-class roots that could benefit Obama, who lost the blue-collar vote to Clinton during their competition for the presidential nomination.
Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1973.
He spent the day at his home in Delaware with friends and family. The normally loquacious lawmaker maintained a low profile as associates said they believed — but did not know — he would be tapped. They added they had been asked to stand by in case their help was needed.
No sooner had word spread of his selection than McCain’s campaign unleashed its first volley. Spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement that Biden had “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.” As evidence, Republicans cited an ABC interview from August 2007 in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.
In Washington, Biden is known as a collegial figure even when he’s competitive — one who can spin flowery praise one moment and biting fulmination the next.
His second presidential campaign faltered early on, just one of the Democrats shunted to the sidelines as the bracing contest between Obama and Clinton sucked the air out of the rest of the field.
One of the youngest politicians ever elected to the Senate, Biden entered the 1988 Democratic presidential primary promising to “rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.” He reluctantly quit the race three months later after he was caught lifting lines from a speech by a British Labor Party leader.
In his latest effort, Biden proved to be a cheerful campaigner who mixed easily with voters, got along with rivals and displayed a self-deprecating sense of humor that leavened debates and speeches.
When asked in one debate whether he’s much too wordy, he drew laughs with a one-word answer, “No.”
Obama jumped in to defend him on another occasion when he was asked whether he had a problem with minorities. The question was rooted in Biden’s occasional gaffes. He had apologized earlier for describing Obama as “articulate” and “clean” in an unguarded episode that was taken by some to have a racial overtone. And he’d had to defend his remark that “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Joe Biden biography
Age: 65
Born: Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pa.
Experience: U.S. senator, 1972- present; New Castle County Council, 1970-72; sought presidential nomination, 1988 and 2008.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in history and political science, University of Delaware, 1965; law degree, Syracuse University, 1968.
Family: Wife, Jill, and four children (one deceased).
Bet you didn’t know: Biden lost his first wife, Neilia, and a daughter, Naomi, in a 1972 automobile accident.
