While the white-hot glare of the media spotlight remains trained on Sarah Palin, Joe Biden has been cheerfully stumping the battleground states, calling local newspapers for interviews, answering questions and shaking hands at small town-hall events. While we all anxiously await news about Hurricane Ike, donate our time and money to help survivors, reading this will give you a sense of what you haven't seen in the national media this past week.
UPDATE: A reminder of the difference between Biden (author of the Violence Against Women Act) and Palin, worth watching:
Below is a brief (and incomplete), day by day snapshot of Joe Biden's quietly influential under-the-radar contribution to the Obama/Biden campaign, pieced together from local news accounts of his activities.
As CNN put it recently,
Sen. Joe Biden faces a paradox: He offers the most unfiltered contact with the media of any of the big four. But he's the least likely to be covered.
Over the three weeks since Sen. Barack Obama tapped Biden to be his running mate, Biden has seen coverage of his campaign slip from feverish to low-key.
Whether because he's not mired in scandal or caught in a web of lies, like his opponents, or not young and charismatic, like Obama, the media just doesn't seem interested in covering him. Unlike Sarah Palin, who's either hiding (with good reason, as we now know) from the media, or protecting McCain by acting like a victim, Biden is stumping on the trail on his own, taking his message all through the contested regions of this country, touching thousands of ordinary people, and we need to help showcase the great work he's doing for the ticket.
Wednesday, September 3
Biden spoke in Sarasota, Florida, at a local high school. He covered a lot of different issues, but one that seems pretty relevant this week is his sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act.
He said his proudest accomplishment in his years as a senator was writing the Violence Against Women Act. Biden said that his passion for the subject came from his father.
"I share this passion because of my father, not my mother...and ladies and gentlemen part of this whole process is about two words that I heard more than any other two adjectives as long as I was in my mom and dad's house," Biden said. "Consistent with my faith and how I was raised by my parents, and the two words are dignity and respect."
Here’s one of several audience clips that give a sense of how the crowd is responding (more at the same youtube location):
Thursday, September 4
On Thursday, Biden was in Virginia, first in Virginia Beach and later in Manassas. There, Governor Tim Kaine introduced him to the audience, a small crowd of about 200 at George Mason University.
Back when Obama stumped in Virginia the day after sealing the Democratic nomination, Nancy Jimenez, 20, of Woodbridge, was not sure who she would vote for in her first presidential election. But after hearing Obama in person at the nearby Nissan Pavilion June 5, Jimenez signed up to volunteer for the Democratic candidate.
"I said, ‘I’m going to be part of this,’" Jimenez said. Her volunteer hours earned herself a ticket to Biden’s town hall.
In front of her, Marlies Smith of Montclair laughed at pundits who have said Obama will struggle to win female voters.
"I’m one of those supposedly, old, white-haired ladies who doesn’t support Obama. It’s not true," Smith said, wearing an Obama shirt.
Friday, September 5
The next day, Joe and Jill Biden were at the Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, talking about the economy, health care, and restoring credibility in American foreign policy.
Mr. Biden would turn his attention toward foreign policy, a matter broadly considered a strength he brings to the Obama ticket. Having served in the Senate since 1973, Mr. Biden chairs the Committee on Foreign Relations. He emphasized he has long known Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders abroad are "looking for an America that has regained its confidence," the senator said, in a swipe against the Bush administration's unpopular war in Iraq.
Monday, September 8
At a town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, he mentioned Palin’s "fairly extreme views" on issues like global warming. But mostly, he hammered on the idea of 'change,' emphasizing the similarity between McCain/Palin and the Bush administration.
"Name me a single issue that affects your life — jobs, health care, education, energy — where McCain and Palin disagree with the president," Biden told a crowd of about 700. "If you liked the last eight years, you’ll like the next four years of a McCain-Palin administration, because there is no fundamental change."
Tuesday, September 9
On a day when his opponents held a large rally nearby, and delivered their now familiar and carefully scripted sound bites, Biden stuck to an interactive town-hall format with a small audience.
His first stop of the day was in Columbia, Missouri, where he emphasized Obama's theme of 'change.'
"Change has been the theme of Barack Obama's presidential campaign since the beginning, mostly stemming from Obama's opposition to the Iraq War. Biden notes that McCain and Palin have also adopted "change" as a theme, but Biden chides the Republican presidential ticket for talking change without outlining how it would bring about change. He and Obama have suggested that a vote for McCain is, in effect, a vote for a third term for President Bush, an attempt to link McCain with the unpopular president."
Though the national media largely ignored him, many local papers in the region covered the event, which many noted was popular with the audience, and "frequently interrupted by applause and standing ovations."
Later in the day, Biden was in Kansas City, Missouri at a local high school, hammering on the McCain plan to tax health care benefits. Humorously, he called the GOP plan "the bridge to nowhere." Again, the audience loved it:
Biden ignited numerous standing ovations from the crowd of about 900 that filled the Mehlville High School gymnasium.
Wednesday, September 10
Biden was in the nation’s campaigning capitol, Nashua, New Hampshire, hitting the McCain camp hard on the economy and the housing crisis.
Asked about the housing crisis, Biden told a crowd at Nashua Community College that McCain is confusing predator and prey when he says it's not the government's role to bail out big banks and small borrowers. Biden says government has an obligation to put people in a position to re-negotiate their loans.
Thursday, September 11
Biden spent part of the day commemorating the service of local first respoders at an American Legion post in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio. It was a solemn event.
No campaign posters or applause greeted Biden's appearance, which was how the event was planned.
"This is not about politics," Biden said. "This is about remembering our fallen heroes."
Video here.
Yesterday, Biden released his last ten years of tax returns, putting pressure on the McCain/Palin camp to be more forthcoming about their finances. (Both Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin have yet to release their returns, probably with good reason).
Today he’s campaigning with Obama in Manchester, New Hampshire. He'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday, and they’re expecting him in Shores, Michigan on Monday. It's probable that Ike will change those plans, though.
Thanks Joe Biden for your terrific work on the campaign trail!