Much of the early commentary on the Biden selection has focused on the foreign policy heft Biden brings to the ticket. I do not disagree with this analysis. But I think ultimately of greater weight will be Biden's strengths with voters concerned about the debate of who is or is not an unresponsive elitist, and Pennsylvania voters.
Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the area in Northeastern Pennsylvania, accessible to New York City, where Hillary Clinton also has family roots. Scranton is a city of strivers against the odds, including Senator Bob Casey and his father the former Governor Bob Casey, and a high number of successful people scattered around our nation.
Because of his roots in Pennsylvania, and because stations in the Philadelphia area beam into Delaware, Biden has likely spent more time in Pennsylvania than any other state outside his own. My guess is that Biden's nomination makes McCain's task in Pennsylvania extraordinarily difficult, and I think that Pennsylvania, one of the most conservative of the blue states, now becomes close to a lock for Obama. I would not be surprised if the McCain here dramatically de-escalates and resources are focused elsewhere.
Biden is a classic example of the audacity of hope. Serving in his first term as a member of the New Castle County Council, he was a member of a committee established to recruit a quality U.S. Senate candidate to take on veteran U.S. Senator and former Delaware Governor Caleb Boggs. Finding no takers, Biden then, at age 29, decided to seek the seat himself.
The mainstream media found it hard to take Biden seriously. He won the election by creating new media of his own--a weekly tabloid contrasting Biden as an innovative man interested in solving the problems of the future with Boggs portrayed as an impressive and honorable leader of the past.
The tabloid was full of headlines like the following: "In the 1940's, Boggs did this. In the 1970's, Biden will do this." The content under the headlines was full of proposals which had an inclusive view of problem solving.
"Some people think we need tougher sentences to fight crime," one tabloid said (I paraphrase from memory). "Others say we need better prevention and education. I say we do it all."
In other words, Biden campaigned as an action-oriented centrist who would not ideology get in his way of getting things done. His sister Neila Biden coordinated a volunteer campaign that got the tabloids out to just about every voter in the state of Delaware (it's a pretty small state) just about every week in the Fall.
The Biden tabloids ultimately had more reach than any other media, and they performed the seemingly impossible task of convincing swing voters that a one-term County Councilman was bettter qualified to serve in the U.S. Senate than the long-term incumbent senator and former governor. Biden won the Senate seat as Nixon was sweeping Delaware, and as the Semocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was giving him the runaround, trying to conserve resources for winnable target seats.
As a U.S. Senator, Biden put family values first, commuting home every night on Amtak to be with his children after the tragic automobile accident that killed his first wife. He kept on commuting on Amtrak for the 36 years he served in the Senate.
Missing thousands of dinners with lobbysists,Biden busied himself representing the state that considers itself the corporate capital of America. Delaware is the leading state by far for headquarters of corporations: the Delaware Court of Chancery has developed a great deal of expertise in corporate law as result.
Biden deals with business as constituents having legimate interests, not as lobbyists offering campaign contributions. The smallness of the state of Delaware dramatically reduces the need for campaign contributions, and makes them but one tool instead of almost the entire election process.
His election to the Senate has gradually been followed by a switch in Delaware politics from a Republican dominated state to a Democratic dominated state. He has appealed to the best of the business community, and has driven rifts between them and their hardcore right-wing allies. His selection by Obama will reassure both business and labor that someone who has repeatedly delved into the complexities of economic issues will be advising the President.
Wheras Obama graduated from Harvard Law School and taught at at the University of Chicago law school, giving him credentials at two the toughest law schools in the country, Biden graduated from Syracuse Law School and has taught many courses at Widener Law School, my alma mater.
Widener is not Harvard or Chicago. It has campuses in Wilmington, Delaware and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (I played a lead role in establishing the Harrisburg campus.) It is the only law school in Delaware. With its two campuses, it is often (different years produce different rankings) the largest producer of J.D. degrees in America.
Many of its graduates (including myself) take most or all of the courses at night. It probably graduates more night students each year than any other law school in America. My good friend Anthony Santoro, the Dean who established Widener in Harrisburg and hired Biden to start teaching constitutional law, liked to say that many Widener students were the first in their family to attend college or law school. (I am not among those who can claim that distinction.)
In their paths to the Senate, Biden and Obama both started from virtually nowhere and stunned everyone by winning upset victories. Both like to talk in great detail. The Obama campaign's elaborate preparations for the Vice-Presidential nominee should help Biden stay sharp, focused and on message.
My guess is that the Biden nomination is a strong blow to Mitt Romney's potential candidacy and an aid to Tom Ridge's chances.
A McCain-Romney ticket would be one of two multimillionaires, while Ridge, who grew up in a public housing project, would balance Biden and put Pennsylvania back in play.
Teaching at Widener is a different experience than teaching at Chicago. By taking continuing legal education courses at both University of Pennsylvania and Widener, I have gained an appreciation of the difference between elite law schools and ordinary law schools. The Penn courses are high level, policy-oriented, well fitted for corporate lawyers representing many major clients. The Widener courses deal with specific problems in great detail, well fitted for plaintiff's lawyers, or lawyers representing small businesses, or lawyers on the legal staff of a single corporation.
Joe Biden has served in Washington for 36 years without being part of the corrupting elements of the Washington culture. He has repesnted the state with more corporate headquaters than any other without reducing himself to being a Democrat In Name Only, or a vote deliverable by this lobbyist or that. If corporations have influenced him, he has also influenced them in the direction of the Democratic Party and Democratic goals.
Most importantly, Biden has never, to the best of my knowledge, been ideological in his pursuit of centrist policies. He knows that the center is moving target, and that whatever solves problems in a genuine way becomes the new center. He is not a basher of Democratic activists, bloggers, or anyone else. His goals have always been to move our nation forward, and not to score factional points.
I thus concur with the general judgment here that the Biden nomination is an excellent one.