Democrat nominee for White House Barack Obama named Senator Joseph Biden, a veteran foreign policy expert and a strong supporter of Indo-US nuclear deal, as his running mate.
WASHINGTON: Ending weeks of suspense, Democrat nominee for White House Barack Obama on Saturday named Senator Joseph Biden, a veteran foreign policy expert and a strong supporter of Indo-US nuclear deal, as his running mate.
"Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee," an early morning text message from the Obama campaign informed thousands of people who had turned in their telephone numbers with hopes of being the first to know the Democrat vice-presidential candidate.
However, US media leaked the name of the 65-year-old Senator from Delaware several hours earlier.
A formal event is being planned in Springfield, Illinois when Biden is expected to be formally introduced by Obama -- at the same venue the Illinois Democrat launched his presidential aspirations.
Biden, who is currently serving out his sixth term, also ran for the 1988 and this year's Democratic presidential nomination before dropping out. He was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at the age of 29.
Currently the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden brings years of experience that could help counter arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy.
The influential Congressmen will be the key player in moving the US-India civilian nuclear agreement forward in Congress when the final package of the deal gets there.
He had played a major role in the passage of the Hyde Act of 2006 pertaining to the nuclear deal. As the then ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden teamed up with Chairman Senator Richard Lugar in ensuring its passage in the Committee and on the Senate floor.
With the Initiative facing a timeline before the 110th session of the US Congress adjourns, Biden said that while passage is "very, very tight", he would "push like the devil" if India gets its end done and the accord is presented to Congress for final approval.
"It's possible, but it's very, very tight," Biden said recently in an interview. "I am an optimist. I am not going to say it (clock) has run out," he remarked.
US media had been projecting Biden as the possible nominee since last evening, with a report quoting Democratic sources saying that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, the other two whose names were doing the rounds, have been told they are not on the number two slot.
That had left Biden and a very long shot, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. But some in the Hillary campaign maintained that the New York Democrat was not even asked to submit financial disclosure forms to the vetting team -- a sign that Senator Obama had no intention of naming her.
Biden is a Catholic with blue-collar roots and has a reputation of being a long-winded orator. The focus on foreign and national security expertise aside, Obama must have seen at the background of Biden, analysts feel. He is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania and has working-class roots that benefits Obama, who lost the blue-collar vote to Clinton during the primaries.
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