Florida Campaign Frenzy

This week started off with Biden in North Carolina and now he is racing through Florida. Florida is extremely important because it has early voting which is something that most Floridians take advantage of. While in Sunrise, FL, Biden joked about McCain dressing as an "agent of change" for Halloween was not a believable costume. He again noted how McCain has agreed with Bush 90% of the time and how he is exactly the same as Bush. Biden asserted that after voting Republican in the last election, Floridians and America want a change and McCain will not give it to them.

Biden has been encouraging all Floridians to vote early because the early vote helps the Democrats. The early vote counteracts the Republican advantage with the absentee vote and people have been voting early in record numbers this year. Biden is visiting as many possible counties in Florida as he can because every vote counts. The Republicans need to win Florida and the Democratic visits force the Republicans to keep up.

Also in Florida today are Bill Clinton and Obama. It is the first time they have ever appeared together. They campaigned in South Florida today aiming at the Latino voters. The Democratic Latinos outweigh the Republican Latinos in Florida so the Democrats feel confident that they will win the strong Cuban vote in South Florida.

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/10/29/biden-pokes-halloween-fun-at-mccain/
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/29/1606606.aspx

Biden Campaigning in North Carolina and Florida

     Joe Biden has returned to North Carolina and Florida this week to continue his campaigning for Senator Barack Obama and is starting off in the cities of Greenville and Greensboro, North Carolina.  These two states are still seen as battleground states so they are seen as the priority for the Democratic party and in particular, Barack Obama currently holds slight leads in both states according to poll averages.  During his rallies in Florida, Joe Biden will most likely bring up the idea of him supporting the country of Israel during their ever constant plights and also denounce the Holocaust in order to reel in the last of the Jewish voters.  This tactic has worked on past campaign trips to Florida so it is very likely to be successful once again.  

     Also, Joe Biden will speak about high foreclosure and unemployment rates as always in order to get the people hyped up about the failing economy and will especially use this when he makes his way towards New Port Richey and his three day bus tour of Florida. 

     Finally as a little fun fact, Joe Biden tried his hand at a little humor when he was campaigning in North Carolina last week by bringing up an always favored subject, NASCAR.  In order to connect with voters he said, "I know NASCAR is big in North Carolina.  And to use the parlance, to use NASCAR parlance for those of you who are NASCAR fans, we've been trading a little paint with the McCain, with the McCain-Palin ticket lately.  And, uh, and quite frankly, uh, John's been a driving a little loose lately."  

 http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/27/politics/fromtheroad/entry4547045.shtml#ccmm

Campaigning in Colorado

After a week of more gaffes, like Biden's spelling mishap of the three-letter word J-O-B-S, and his comments about an imminent global "test" on a President Obama (click here for more info), Senator Biden has moved on to campaign in Colorado. Colorado, a swing state whose early voting is now open. Over the past two days, Biden has been on a bus tour through Colorado speaking in cities such as Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Ft. Collins, Commerce City, and Pueblo. On top of speaking at rallies where he stressed the listeners to go out and vote early, Senator Biden also took time to go speak to campaign volunteers to thank them for their time. Once he leaves Colorado Senator Biden has plans to go to Florida this coming Friday with stops in Danville and Martinsville. 

Earlier on Monday Senator Biden was in California and appeared on the "Ellen" show, where he announced that if he lived in California he would appose proposition 8, an important measure on our upcoming ballot.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20081022/cm_uc_crmmax/op_197828

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/obamaroadblog?page=1

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/20/entertainment/e174934D50.DTL&type=politics

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/politics/article/joe_biden_to_campaign_in_southside_friday/19850

Biden Hits the West Coast

After visiting New Mexico earlier this week, Biden spent Saturday in the San Francisco Bay area and Sunday in Washington. While in California, Biden attended three fundraisers where he raised a total of $2 million. At his fundraisers in Atherton and Piedmont Biden criticized McCain's use of the same campaign staff that Bush used in 2000 in his race against McCain. Biden also warned his supporters not too get too excited because in the last two elections the Democrats had the lead in October but lost the election to Bush. He does, however, feel optimistic because he believes that the Obama campaign is the most organized staff in election history. Because of this, he is not too worried about the Bradley effect. Biden blamed the Republicans for making the citizens distrust the government and said that even if Obama wins the election, the public will still not be able to fully trust the government.

While Biden was in Tacoma, Washington, he focused on McCain's economic plan and how it is basically the same as what America has had for the past 8 years. He asserted that McCain will give tax cuts to the wealthy and that Obama's plan is pointed to help the middle class. Biden also mentioned Colin Powell's recent endorsement of Obama. Finally, Biden remarked on Palin's recent comment at one of her fundraisers in North Carolina about how she loved being in "pro-American" regions of the country. Biden emphasized that all regions of the country are pro-American and especially focused on how there are soldiers fighting for America that are from every state of the country.

Biden will make his first visit since the Democratic convention to Colorado next Tuesday and Wednesday and only one day after Palin is scheduled to visit.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008286224_apwabidenwashington4thldwritethru.html
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10757391?nclick_check%253D1.26E4614FF05F7DA661F4B8AE791D3D02.html
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/politics/17749761/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

Biden Uses Ayers Cartoon Against McCain

     When Senator Joe Biden recently visited Ohio during his campaign, he mentioned a cartoon drawn about presidential candidate, John McCain, that directly categorizes McCain with 60s anti-war activist, William Ayers.  William Ayers is most commonly recognized as part of the Weather Underground Organization, a radical left organization that split from the Students for a Democratic Society.  The cartoon that Biden mentioned deals mainly with the ideas that McCain is refusing to look and deal with the failing economy and only focuses on dishing out "malarky" as Biden continues to reinforce.  Also, that McCain is trying to win supporters from his own party by constantly attacking Obama's past and his character instead of his policies.  

     John McCain tries to dodge the issue of the Ayers connection because he himself has accused Barack Obama of having a relationship with now Proffesor Ayers because they worked on some of the same philanthropic committees.  However, Biden stood up for Obama and said that Obama was only eight years old when all the commotion and riots were happening with the Weathermen and the rest of the SDS and finished by saying that he and his party would be extremely disappointed with McCain and his campaign if they brought up the Ayers issue anymore in the future.

Here is the link to the cartoon:

http://www.cagle.com/working/081010/cagle00.gif

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-uses-cart.html

Teaming up with the Clintons

Senator Joe Biden campaigned today in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania with both former President Bill Clinton, and former first lady/ presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. Biden really managed to excite the crowd with his remarks about how the american public should "get up" from these severe economic blows and deliver his ticket the presidency. Bill and Hillary Clinton joined him at this rally pointing out the similarities of Bush and McCain, and stressing the value of Joe Biden on the ticket. Bill Clinton stated that Joe Biden "is one of those members who knows the most about the economic, political and security challenges of America." 

Over the last few days Senator Joe Biden traveled through Missouri in a four stop tour of the state, consisting of rallies in St. Joseph, Liberty, and Jefferson City, and Springfield. Earlier in the week Biden returned to the campaign trail in Southern Florida, holding rallies in Tampa and Ft. Meyers. 

On a slightly more playful note, cnet.com technology news has been polling their readers asking what "technology product" each candidate is most comparable to. The majority of the pollers agree that Joe Biden is most similar to Wikipedia! (Lots of info, but not always right)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/12/campaign.wrap/index.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10063395-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/obamaroadblog?page=1

Biden Back on the Campaign Trail

After being out of the news since the VP debate due to the death of his mother, Biden spoke at the University of South Florida and at Ft. Myers' Florida Gulf Coast University. In both speeches he attacked McCain and Palin's performances in their debates and attacked McCain's health care plan. Biden also consistently compared McCain to Bush calling McCain "Bush 44." Biden demonized McCain and Palin's personal and irrelevant attacks on Obama as taking "the low road to the highest office in the land." Biden asserted that McCain and Palin have chosen to use "fear" tactics instead of intellectualism as their campaign the past couple of weeks. Biden believes that Americans can see through this and that Americans will not be distracted by McCain's attempts to take the focus off of the real issues and place them on Obama as a person.

Biden focused on McCain's health care plan and how it could threaten the benefits of 175 million Americans who receive their health care insurance through their companies. Biden acknowledged that McCain's plan isn't even popular with much of his own party.

Biden also pointed out that in last night's debate Obama proved that he understands that the debates and the election aren't about McCain, Palin, Obama, or Biden, rather they are about the American people. Biden asserted that the American people want "An optimist. Not an angry man lurching from one position to another." Biden described the economy as an "economic hell" that Americans have been living in for the past eight years. Biden argued that Obama will not just rescue the American economy but he will change the whole economic philosophy of America.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/back-on-the-tra.html
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-continues.html
http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/ngillespie/biden.jpg

Biden Loses Mother-in-Law to Illness

Bonny Jean Jacobs, Senator Joe Biden's mother-in-law, passed away this Sunday after a long, persisting illness.  She died at the age of 78 and she will be buried Tuesday in Abington, PA near her home in Willow Grove, PA.  The Obama-Biden campaign has decided to cancel their activities for Monday and Tuesday of this week and even cancelled Saturday's activities when he learned of Mrs. Jacob's sudden downward progression.  The Biden family has asked the press and media to stay clear from him and his family until they have been able to fully recover and grieve sufficiently for their beloved family member and so far the media has cooperated fully.  Also, Senator Barack Obama has expressed his condolences to Senator Biden and his family from North Carolina.  

Biden had been scheduled to take a tour of Florida this week which was supposed to last a couple of days but has now been put off until further notice.  His tour that begins on Wednesday however, will include being in Tampa at the Sun Dome at the University of Florida on Wednesday and a private fundraiser in Naples.  In the recent polls, Senator Barack Obama has seen to be becoming more popular in the state of Florida so this visit by Senator Biden will be crucial in hopefully asserting a stronghold in the nation's Sunshine State.  His discussions will mainly include explaining his and Obama's positions on the economy because most people do link the economy's downfall to directly to Republican party's administration.   

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/714302.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/05/biden_steps_off_trail_for_moth.html

Awaiting the big debate!

Tomorrow night the long awaited Vice Presidential debates will take place St. Louis, Missouri. This event is what people are hailing to be the most anticipated vice presidential debate in history. Joe Biden has huge tasks ahead of him in the upcoming debate: not only does he need to win, but he is also under pressure to win by a huge margin because of the low expectations placed on Sarah Palin. Biden is also expected to focus more on attacking McCain and the Bush administration, as opposed to directly "bullying" Sarah Palin, which could be seen in a negative light. He needs to carefully avoid any further "gaffes" tomorrow in order to control the damage of his "FDR" statements earlier in the week. 

During an interview with Katie Couric, Senator Biden stated: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed." The problem with Biden's remark is that FDR wasn't the president in 1929 during the stock market crash, and the television wasn't the main method of communication due to the fact that it wasn't widely available at the time. Luckily for the Obama campaign, the media was more focused on Sarah Palin's interviews and didn't make a huge deal out of the remark. 

Over the past couple of days Joe Biden has been on the campaign trail along with Barack Obama, speaking at large rallies in both Detroit, Michigan, and Fredricksburg, Virginia. This is a change from the previous week, when Senator Biden had been addressing crowds on his own around the country in Ohio, Milwaukee, and Pennsylvania. 

Taking a break from speeches and the campaign trail, Joe Biden recently convened near his home with campaign advisers in preparation for the upcoming debate. Yesterday he was 

seen having lunch in a local diner with his son Beau Biden, who is being deployed to Iraq on Friday. Family matters aside, today Joe Biden traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the Senate vote on the $700 million dollar bailout plan. Along with Senator Obama and Senator McCain, Senator Joe Biden voted yes on the plan which was approved by the Senate this evening with 74-25 role call. This bailout plan is most likely going to be highly discussed in tomorrow nights debate, along with foreign and domestic policy. Tension runs high as both parties await tomorrow nights debate.