Northern Virginia Community College has attracted what’s becoming an increasingly well-known face, Jill Biden, Ed.D., the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

I’m glad to see Dr. Biden take up the opportunity to stay in academia, and I’m even happier to see that she has chosen a community college over some of the higher-profile institutions in the area such as Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason, or even American.

With the economy in the tank, many people are finding themselves unemployed or unhappy with their current positions. One would hope that with this being the case, more Americans will take advantage of the vast network of community colleges across the country and get the skills they need to obtain a more desirable (and profitable) career.

Who knows, maybe Dr. Biden will have the power to convince her husband to push more agressivelly for student loan funding instead of sod for the National Mall and money for groups like ACORN.

In terms of a higher yielding long term investment, I think education will provide much better returns in both the short and long-run than any voter registration group.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Up until August Joe Biden was one of the big losers of the Democratic Party, not once, but twice. The man had lost two bids for the White House in only what could be deemed embarrassing failures. His 2008 campaign was something of a joke, doomed from the beginning and more of a fare-well tour than anything else. After all, five people voted for Joe Biden in the primaries, and two of those people were dead.

1988 was different. Biden’s first campaign started out with great promise, and in fact, following Gary Hart’s ignominious departure following a sex scandal so lurid it made Larry Flynt blush, many people in the know thought Biden the fashionable choice in a weak field. Things were going Joe’s way for much of 1987, not only did he raise more cash than his competitors, but as the powerful Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee he had a ready-made platform from which the American people could get to know him. Biden’s star burned bright as the entire nation was transfixed to the Biden/Robert Bork duel of the silver tongues during the latter’s confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. Not only did Joe hold his own against the best that conservative legal thought had to offer, but he managed to act human in the process, keeping his legendary loquaciousness in check.

What followed could only be described as the least vile of all political scandals to bring down a potential Presidential front-runner. Biden it seems, had the common habit of lifting lines from other people’s speeches. In particular, Joe had a predilection for Bobby Kennedy. Adding fuel to the innocuous fire, a former classmate from Syracuse Law School accused Biden of plagiarism during his 1L year. Though plagiarism is no small infraction, it is nothing in a town known for graft, theft, bald-faced treason and sexual deviance so profound as to be catalogued as the most wretched acts of perversion known to man or beast.

 As if the accusations of cheating weren’t bad enough, a CSPAN tape surfaced of Joe bragging at a campaign function in the most smug manner to a mere citizen about his great grades (actually unexceptional) and multiple degrees (only has two). Unfortunately for Joe, it was a slow news cycle and his prominence during the Bork hearings backfired on him badly. Biden’s outrages were splashed across TV screens and newspapers across the land. The media hemmed and hawed and outraged citizens kicked stray dogs in the street and gnashed their teeth in anger. As the legendary Hunter S. Thompson delicately put it:

“Sen. Biden with no front-warning at all was suddenly exposed as a liar, a plagiarist and a dupe who’d spent most of his life a whimpering, cheating fool…Biden immediately called a 9 A.M. press conference in Washington to flog himself on network TV and wallow publicly in his own guilt.”

So thus ended Joe Biden. The media swore he would never rise again and indeed, the specter of Plagiargate reared it’s ugly head during the 2008 election. To most in the media, Joe Biden was a dead end, he was political worm food. He would never rise higher than the Senate and the best he could ever hope to do was retire as an honored elder. Naturally, that was not the case. Biden was resurrected from the depths of mediocre media labeling and it turns out no one gave a damn about 1988 or even the 2008 primaries and he was universally hailed by the Dems as the perfect choice for Vice-President.

The lesson here is that the media, the prognosticators and seers that they are, are nothing but gibbering cold sores. Their continued existence cheapens all life found everywhere in the universe. If one recounts the sad litany of inevitability that the cretins had spouted during the last election cycle one might be aghast at how wrong they were. The truth is that THEY ARE ALWAYS WRONG and always will be. Let’s consider just this past year. According to the lovely media, Hillary should be President having defeated Rudy Giuliani in what could be termed more a massacre than an election. Hillary’s victory would have mirrored Nixon’s landslide in 1972 due to the well known fact that 40% of the American people would never, EVER, vote Republican after eight horrid years of George W. Bush.

One is reminded of previous fiats from on high with gems assuring George Bush Sr.’s demise before the Republican primaries in 1988, due to the OMG-worse-than-Watergate-Iran-Contra scandal, as well as Gary Hart’s assured place as the 41st President of the United States. Fast-forward to 1991. The same people pointed to the inevitability of Bush’s re-election against Tom Harkin. With that in mind it might be wise to rethink the notion that Sarah Palin will fade into the mists and that Hillary has been neutralized…

So this brings us all the way back to our friend Joe Biden. Dead to rights in the spring of 2008 and Vice-President by January 2009. What a difference a year can make. But let’s be honest. History has taught us that the only thing one has to do to have a great career in Washington is stay in office long enough to wash away past sins and become an icon. Longevity has a way of turning idiots into elder statesmen, morons into subject matter experts and pompous know-it-alls into the Vice-President (including that savage Alben Barkley, who could ever forgive his heinous crimes?).

Here’s to you Joe! You survived and struck it rich. Let your example shine forth for all those men that have lost big-time on different occasions. Third time is the charm. Who knows, maybe even Dan Quayle will rise from the dead. I give him 25-1 odds in 2016.

To:Interested Parties
From:Rick Davis, Campaign Manager
Date: October 31, 2008
RE: The Final Push

The State of the Campaign

If your television is tuned to cable news as frequently as ours are here at campaign headquarters, you have seen the pundits say John McCain and his campaign are done. And, if you’ve followed this race since the beginning, this is clearly a song you’ve heard before. I wanted to take some time today to give you some insight on the state of the race as we see it.

An AP poll released this morning revealed a very telling fact: ONE out of every SEVEN voters is undecided. That means, if 130 million voters turn out on Tuesday, 18.5 million of them have yet to make up their mind. With that many votes on the table and the tremendous movement we’ve seen in this race, I believe we are in a very competitive campaign.

Here’s why:

All the major polls have shown a tightening in the race and a significant narrowing of the numbers. In John McCain’s typical pattern, he is closing strong and surprising the pundits. We believe this race is winnable, and if the trajectory continues, we will surpass the 270 Electoral votes needed on Election Night.

National Polls: Major polls last week showed John McCain trailing by double-digit margins – but by the middle of this week, we were within the margin of error on four national tracking surveys. In fact, the Gallup national tracking survey showed the race in a virtual tie 2 days this week.

State Polls:

Iowa – Our numbers in Iowa have seen a tremendous surge in the past 10 days. We took Obama’s lead from the double digits to a very close race. That is why you see Barack Obama visiting the state in the final days, trying to stem his losses. It is too little, too late. Like many other Midwestern states, Iowa is moving swiftly into McCain’s column.

The Southwest – It is no secret that Republican candidates in the Southwest have to focus on winning over enough Latino and Hispanic voters in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado to carry them to victory. John McCain has overcome challenges Republicans face, and has made up tremendous ground in these states with these voters. For these voters, the choice has become clear, and you have seen a big change in the numbers. John McCain is now winning enough voters to perform within the margin of error – putting these states within reach.

Colorado – Barack Obama tried to outspend our campaign in Colorado during the early weeks of October and finish off our candidate in Colorado. However, after our visit early this week, we saw a tremendous rebound in our poll position, and Colorado is back on the map.

Ohio and Pennsylvania – Everyone knows that vote rich Ohio and Pennsylvania will be key battlegrounds for this election. Between the two: 41 electoral votes and no candidate has gotten to the White House without Ohio. Senator McCain and Governor Palin have been campaigning non-stop in these key battleground states and tonight Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pumped up our campaign at a rally in Columbus. Our position in these states is strong and undecided voters continue to have a very favorable impression of our candidate.
Obama campaign faces tremendous structural challenges in the final days of this campaign

Obama has a challenge hitting 50%: Barack Obama has not reached the 50% threshold in almost any the battleground state. He consistently is performing in the 45-48% range. When we look closely at the primary votes, we see a history of a candidate whose Election Day performance is often at or behind his final polling numbers. If this is true, our surge will leave Obama with even or under 50% of the vote on Election Day.

Early Vote: The Obama campaign has promised that their early vote and absentee efforts will change the composition of the electorate. They have sold the press on a story that first time voters will turn out in droves this election cycle. Again, the facts undermine their argument. In our analysis of early voting and absentee votes to date: The composition of the electorate has not changed significantly and most folks who have voted early are high propensity voters who would have voted regardless of the high interest in this campaign.

Expanding the Field: Obama is running out of states if you follow out a traditional model. Today, he expanded his buy into North Dakota, Georgia and Arizona in an attempt to widen the playing field and find his 270 Electoral Votes. This is a very tall order and trying to expand into new states in the final hours shows he doesn’t have the votes to win.
The Final Barnstorm

On Monday, we will have a 14 state rally with our candidates crisscrossing the country trying to turn out our voters and sway the final undecided voters. Governor Palin will hit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska in the final day of campaigning, while Senator McCain will travel from Tampa, Florida, to Virginia, then Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada and finish the night in Prescott, Arizona. The enthusiasm and excitement we generate on Monday will be the electricity that powers our “Get Out the Vote” efforts on Tuesday.
On the Ground

Our field organization has tremendous energy and is out-performing the Bush campaign at the same time in 2004. This week our field organization crossed a huge threshold and began reaching more than one million voters per day, and by week’s end will have contacted more than 5 million voters. Our phone centers are full and our rate of voter contact is significantly out-pacing the Bush campaign in 2004. We have the resources to do the voter contact necessary to support the surge we are seeing in our polling with old fashioned grassroots outreach.

On the Airwaves.

In the final days of the campaign, our television presence will be bigger and broader than the Obama campaign’s presence. The full Republican effort – the RNC’s Independent Expenditure and the McCain campaign will out-buy Barack Obama and the Democrats by just about 10 million dollars.

In short: the McCain campaign is surging in the final 72 hours. Our grassroots campaign is vibrant and communicating to voters in a very powerful way. Our television presence is strong. And, we have a secret ingredient – A candidate who will never quit and who will never stop fighting for you and for your families.

In these final hours, Senator McCain and Governor Palin are counting on you – they are counting on you to knock on doors, to make turnout calls, to contact your friends and neighbors. Get our voters to the polls and help John McCain fight for your and for our country. This is our last mission on behalf of John McCain and I have no doubt I can count on your effort and energy to carry us across the line to victory.

It’s definitely a convincing email; however they are definitely up against the wall with so many people deciding to vote early as it appears that a large number of those votes will be cast for Obama.

The latest Real Clear Politics battleground polling averages (as of 10/31/2008):

Latest Real Clear Politics National Average (as of 10/31/2008):

The rumor as mentioned on AssociatedContent.com:

“On or about October 5, 2008, Joe Biden will announce his resignation from the race as Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate. He will cite health reasons and quietly withdraw. Hillary Clinton is poised to take his place as the Democratic vice presidential candidate. Or so this latest rumor goes.”

Obviously this isn’t the first time that rumors have been started about candidates that have turned out to be nothing, and I guarantee that this won’t be the last.

However, it’s not hard for someone to make an argument that would make this rumor seem like it could be a possibility.

While I am not completely confident in the rumor, here are five things that could lead people to believe that Joe Biden will be leaving the race:

1. – Joe Biden hasn’t been a staunch supporter of the activities of the campaign his name on. Here is Joe Biden commenting on an anti-McCain commercial recently run by his campaign (not a 527): ”

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the “CBS Evening News,” Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it. “I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.

2. – There is no doubt whatsoever that Joe Biden is a “family first” kind of guy. Even after his kids grew up, he still came back to Delaware every night to spend time with his  family and always did what he could to keep his family close. Now that he is running for Vice President, his family has been a prime target for the RNC, particularly his lobbyist son Hunter who according to the RNC:

was until recently a registered Washington lobbyist whose clients received earmarks from Obama, and Federico Pena, Obama’s campaign co-chairman who has close ties to big electricity.

Random commentary: Honestly, I’ve always thought that this was a pointless argument by the RNC, because I’m quite confident that I can connect Hunter Biden to some of the lobbyists working for McCain. This whole lobbyist argument is getting old anyway, so focus on the issues! 

3. – Even Joe Biden himself has said that he thinks Hillary Clinton might have been a better choice than him for the VP:

“Make no mistake about this,” said Biden. “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified as I am … She’s qualified to be president of the United States of America and easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America. And quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.”

While some might argue that this was just Joe Biden being humble, the tone of his voice really had me thinking that he believed what he was saying.

4. -  Joe Biden doesn’t agree with Barack Obama on a variety of core issues, and it’s starting to show:

Asked by NBC’s Meredith Vieira whether the Fed should bail out insurance giant AIG, the senator said no: “I don’t think they should be bailed out by the federal government.” Unfortunately, the remark had more in common with McCain’s initial position on the bailout (instinctive opposition) than Obama’s carefully cultivated claim that he would not “second-guess” the government. When the bailout went through, both Biden and McCain bowed to reality. But the shift left Obama in a tricky position–as Matt Lauer pointed out this morning on “Today.” Noting that Obama had been hitting McCain for flip-flopping on the AIG bailout, Lauer asked the Illinois senator how he could criticize his Republican rival when his own running mate had made the same mistake. His answer? “I think Joe should have waited, as well.” Awkward. 

Random commentary: Why does the media consider any deviation from talking-points as a gaffe? Is honesty or an individual point of view no longer allowed in the political arena? 

5. – One could argue that even the Obama campaign seems to be reluctant to put Biden’s name on key campaign materials:

In a controversial move sure to upset millions of people, Barack Obama’s campaign has decided to forgo the traditional time-wasting distribution of chum (yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.) to try and win the election.

Random commentary: As a former campaign staffer, I understand the argument for forgoing the campaign signs. They take up a lot of time, and if both sides are good at what they’re doing, those signs wont be in people’s yards anyway come election day  

In conclusion, yes, I can see how over the past few weeks some might see Joe Biden’s departure as an inevitable event. However, Barack Obama is still beating John McCain in many polls, and it appears that Obama still may be gaining some momentum. While I don’t think that Biden is essential for Obama’s victory, I don’t necessarily see him doing much damage to the campaign either.

While there are a variety of things that make this rumor seem more legitimate, at present I have a hard time believing it. But as this post reflects, I can’t rule anything out.

Blogs covering the “Biden Rumor:”

• Progressive Californian 
• The Right Perspective
• Exposing Liberal Lies
• Frankly, My Dear
• Flopping Aces
• Texas to Oregon
• Sherryness
• Stix Blog

Is your blog covering this story? If so, mention it in the comments and include a direct link to your post!

Gallup: McCain 46% Obama 44%

Rasmussen: McCain 46% Obama 46%

CNN: McCain 47% Obama 47%

Based on the numbers it appears that Biden is a null factor. He neither helps, nor detracts from, Obama’s campaign. I would venture to say that Biden does not help Obama because he is best known amongst those who have a great deal of political knowledge. As such, his biggest impact is on those who most likely have made a decision who to vote for. Biden does not attract casual or ill-informed voters who, incidentally, will decide the election. Biden is a favorite amongst the pundits and for that reason perhaps he wasn’t such a good choice.

Click here to view the embedded video.

    Biden discusses demographics in Delaware

The Biden Effect makes it even more clear that John McCain, if he wants to create excitement and buzz amongst the masses, must choose a more unconventional running-mate that changes the perception of the ticket and brings more than just political credentials…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Helps bring in Catholic vote: Joe Biden is very open about the fact that he is Catholic, there will be no emails circulating around the internet questioning the authenticity of his Christianity. Sorry guys, you won’t be seeing emails questioning whether or Joe Biden ever attended a madrasah. Yes, Joe Biden is pro-choice, however there are many Catholics who will always support “their own,” regardless of where they stand.

Helps bring in the female vote: Joe Biden has an extremely interesting life story when it comes to his family and taking charge as a father. Here is a brief summary from his Wikipedia page talking about just one of the tragedies that have made him the family man he is:

“His wife and infant daughter died in a car accident shortly after he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. His two young sons, Beau and Hunter, were seriously injured in the accident, but both eventually made full recoveries. Biden was sworn into office from their bedside. Persuaded not to resign in order to care for them, Biden began the practice of commuting an hour and a half each day on the train from his home in the Wilmington suburbs to Washington, DC, which he continues to do.

Doesn’t create a wealth distraction: One issue that many candidates run into when seeking office is their own personal fortunes and what has been handed down to them, which makes it hard to paint themselves as the candidate for the “middle class.” While Barack Obama and Joe Biden are not poor by any standards, they both come from very humble beginnings (Obama raised by a single mom, Biden by a used car salesman). This is in contrast to John McCain, who is the son of an oil heiress and married an heiress himself (though I personally see nothing wrong with it, but I’m sure some Soros ad will go after it).

Foreign policy experience: As we all know, in terms of foreign policy experience, Barack Obama really doesn’t have much. However, Joe Biden is currently the Chairman on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a committee he has been on consistently since 1973. Those 35 years on the committee have given Joe Biden insider access to all of the international hostilities that have occurred during his tenure.

A son currently serving in the military: While it seems that the economy is going to be the biggest debate for this election, you cant sidestep the fact that we are still a nation at war. Barack Obama has said repeatedly that his goal is to get our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, which has left many moderates questioning whether he understands how the military works and the consequences. When you mix the fact that Joe Biden’s son will more than likely be in Iraq when (if) he is innaugerated, with his years of service on the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations,  many voters may feel reassured knowing that he has a personal and a professional stake in the military, meaning he wont take action that doesn’t make sense for the troops and for the country.

Please don’t hesitate to leave your comments, and additional things that you think Joe Biden brings to the table for Barack Obama.

Of course, expect a post in the coming days of “5 ways Joe Biden hurts Barack Obama.”

Is this change you can believe in?

Biden endorses a Kerry-McCain ticket
Democrat’s ‘Hardball’ comments likely to fuel new speculation
By Mike Stuckey
MSNBC.com Politics Editor

One of the presidential nominating season’s most unusual ideas was pushed again Tuesday, this time by one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress, when Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware advocated a “unity” ticket of Democratic Sen. John Kerry and Republican Sen. John McCain.

Biden made his comments on MSNBC TV’s “Hardball” when moderator Chris Matthews asked him: “Do you think McCain is seriously — and I mean this professionally — flirting with the idea of accepting a second place on the ticket with John Kerry, and creating a fusion ticket to run against the president?”

Replied Biden: “I think that this is time for unity in this country, and maybe it is time to have a guy like John McCain — a Republican — on the ticket with a guy he does like. They do get along. And they don’t have fundamental disagreements on major policies.”

When asked by Matthews if he would support such a ticket, Biden said, “I would. Yeah, if John Kerry said that’s who he wanted, and McCain — I’d encourage McCain to say yes. I doubt whether John would do it. I doubt whether John McCain would do it. But, you know, we need some unity here, man. The red states and the blue states — we’ve got to have something to coalesce around here.”

The notion that a lifelong Republican like McCain would join the Democratic ticket is widely dismissed by many Washington observers, but McCain himself fanned the flames when he said last week on an ABC News show that he would “entertain” joining Kerry on the Democratic ticket.

“John Kerry is a close friend of mine. We have been friends for years,” McCain said on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “Obviously I would entertain it.”

But the Arizona senator’s chief of staff, Mark Salter, shot the idea down a short time later, saying that he had McCain’s approval to firmly announce that “Senator McCain will not be a candidate for vice president in 2004.”

And despite his close relationship with Kerry, McCain himself had cast such an invitation as highly unlikely. “It’s impossible to imagine the Democratic Party seeking a pro-life, free-trading, non-protectionist, deficit hawk,” he said.

Biden’s endorsement of such a ticket Tuesday is likely to bring a fresh round of speculation in Washington. The Delaware Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and considered his own bid for the presidency this year.

Let’s see how long it takes for him to come up with a clever way to retract that.