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Biden attended a meeting with Obama and Al Gore in Chicago on Tuesday. They discussed climate change and came to the conclusion that "The time for denial is over." The timing of this meeting was interesting because Obama is currently figuring out who his cabinet's top environmental officials will be.

In most recent news, Biden got a puppy today. He bought a 3-month-old German Shepherd from Linda Brown in Chester County, PA. Biden is letting his grandchildren decide on the name of the pup. The puppy will be trained by New Castle, Delaware's K-9 division coordinator, Mark Tobin. Biden's puppy will be delivered shortly after the inauguration when he is completely trained.

Biden made sure that he was purchasing the best bred puppy possible. He had Tobin scout out the best place in Pennsylvania to purchase a pup. Tobin found Linda Brown and concluded that her puppies were the best bred and best suited for the White House.

Biden's puppy will be the second dog running around the White House. Obama will also be purchasing a puppy once he moves to Washington. He promised his daughters that he would buy them a puppy if he won the election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/09/AR2008120902872.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28221617/

Redefining the role of the Vice President

Joe Biden is now facing the challenge of redefining the role of the vice-president, which current VP Dick Cheney has significantly altered. Earlier during the debate season Biden described Cheney as the most dangerous VP america has ever had in the entire American history. In a recent interview Biden described what role he believes he should have: "The primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote..." It seems as though everyone agrees with him, considering U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced that he will bar Biden from the weekly internal Party Senate lunches, an event that Cheney regularly attended. The Biden camp responded by saying that Biden was never planning to attend the meetings and sees eye to eye with Senator Reid on this issue. Biden seems content with the traditional advising role of the vice president and a source close to the transition team says that "Biden has been a key part of every key meeting since the election and has had weekly lunches with Obama," suggesting that Biden is far from being pushed to the background, as the media has been claiming in recent weeks. There even are recent indications that Biden will take on the role of Labor advocate. In other Biden news, Joe recently added Jared Bernstein to his staff as chief Economist.

Sources:

1. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com.........

2. http://www.upi.com.......

3. http://www.newkerala.com.......

4. http://edition.cnn.com.......

5. http://www.bloomberg.com.......

What Should Obama Do With Biden?

     We saw Joe Biden's name everywhere for a good year or so during the campaigning for the presidential election right under Barack Obama on signs, television ads, magazines, and newspapers around the country.  Now however, his name is starting to become overshadowed by the other appointees in Obama's new administration such as Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, and Robert Gates and people are wondering what he will do during Obama's first term as President.  One major area that Biden should and could have a lot of influence in is with the Senate.  Since he has so many friends there and has been around long enough to create strong bonds with varying groups of people, Biden will be able to help Rahm Emanuel unify the Senate and the Democratic legislators when it comes around to policy-making time.  Biden will be able to assert himself in a comfortable enough position within the Obama administration to have the power to give his opinion and use his resources, but he will also most likely not get out of control and try to exaggerate his position's importance like Dick Cheney.  

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/10/zelizer.biden/

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/02/biden.index.html#cnnSTCText