Category: media-saturated confirmation hearings

In Biden, Obama gets a street fighter whose toughness may serve as a needed counterpoint to Obama's smooth, gentlemanly style. He also gets a running-mate who possesses the longevity on the national scene that Obama lacks; Biden is the fouth-longest serving Democrat currently in the Senate. Obama prevailed by making the primary about judgement, not "experience," but now that he's got the nomination sewed up, it will not hurt to have Biden standing beside him, considering that McCain will likely try to throw "lack of experience" at Obama, as Hillary Clinton tried to do, with some success.

The scorecard on Biden's judgment is mixed. He is Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and you would think that perspective would lead him to more diplomatic solutions in the days after September 11. Yet, Biden voted for the war, jumping on the Bush bandwagon blaming Saddam Hussein for the World Trade Center, though only after a failed bi-partisan attempt (with ranking Republican Richard Lugar) to persuade the President to go to war only after diplomatic solutions failed.