Biden-tity: Where's Joe?

From Politico ~ More than three weeks into the transition, and Vice-President elect Joe Biden generates less buzz than the non-existent first puppy.

The vice president-elect has not spoken publicly since the election, and was at Barack Obama's side just once this week as the president-elect delivered a series of grim news conferences on the economy.

Obama instead appears to be at the center of his longtime Chicago circle. His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and senior adviser David Axelrod were each at two of Obama's press conferences, and Valerie Jarrett, another senior adviser, joined him during a media-frenzied local lunch stop last Friday. Emanuel and Axelrod have also both already made the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, where Biden used to be a familiar face.

"I think as the president-elect gets to know the vice president-elect and understands his strengths, he'll rely on him a little more," said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has known Biden for 30 years. "Right now you're almost in the campaign mode still and so you really rely on the people who've been around since the beginning."

Still, it's a precipitous drop in profile from just three months ago, when 47-year-old Obama, dogged by critics who deemed him an elitist who lacked experience, selected as his running mate Biden, a foreign-policy expert who'd been in the Senate since his new boss was in elementary school but still rode Amtrak to work.

"He's stared down dictators and spoken out for American cops and firefighters," Obama said as he introduced Biden in Springfield, Ill. on a Saturday in late August. "He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track."

But even on the trail the tightly controlled campaign kept a close watch on the gaffe-prone Biden as he was dispatched to court Jews in South Florida and blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania. Nor has his role as vice president, a high-profile office with at best nebulous powers, yet been defined, leaving a vacuum filled only with speculation.

Amid reports that Obama will name Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State the question swirled: What about Biden? Foreign policy was supposed to be his domain.

"You think he wasn't in on that conversation?" a source involved with the transition asked rhetorically.

Yet in a column last week The Washington Post's David Ignatius called Biden "the incredible shrinking vice president-elect.""Where is he these days?" Ignatius wonders. "Do they have him in a box? He can't be happy at the idea of considering Clinton as foreign policy tsarina — wasn't Biden's foreign policy savvy the reason he was picked?"

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Biden Can't Take The Heat; Obama Kills Future Interviews With Florida TV Station

Barack Obama's campaign killed all interviews with a Florida TV station after Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, faced tough and critical questions from a reporter at the Orlando station, the Orlando Sentinel reported .

During a satellite video Thursday, WFTV's Barbara West quoted Karl Marx and asked Biden how Obama's comment to "Joe the Plumber," about spreading the wealth wasn't being Marxist.

"Are you joking?," Biden asked.

West replied, "No."

Later in the interview West questioned Biden about his comments that if Obama wins the election next month, he would be tested early on as president and wanted to know if Biden was implying America was no longer the world's leading power.

"I don't know who's writing your questions," Biden asked her.

The Obama camp then killed a WFTV interview with Biden's wife Jill, according to an Orlando Sentinel blog.

"This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election," wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign, according to the Sentinel.

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McCain Campaign Decries Media Bias

John McCain's campaign seems to be playing a little hardball with the media in the final two weeks of the presidential race.

The campaign on Tuesday issued a statement decrying NBC News for its "apparent refusal" to air Joe Biden's controversial remarks that Barack Obama would face a "generated crisis" early on if he is elected.

"Biden's remarks capture perfectly the message of this campaign: Barack Obama is too risky, too inexperienced, to serve as commander in chief -- that his election by itself will provoke our enemies, and that his brief record raises serious questions as to how an Obama administration would respond to such a challenge," McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said in the written statement.

"This campaign highlighted Biden's remarks throughout the day yesterday," he continued. "Yet on NBC Nightly News last night, when Andrea Mitchell reported on Biden's remarks, she failed to play the relevant portion -- the portion that this campaign and a variety of news outlets had found controversial, or revealing as the case may be."

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Gun Grabbers Endorse Obama-Biden Ticket

The nation's best-known anti-gun group, the Brady Campaign, has endorsed Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The group favors a ban on all semiautomatic firearms, opposes the ownership of firearms by lawabiding citizens and has supported the unconstitutional gun control ordinances in Washington, D. C., San Francisco and other cities.

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Is Ifill Out As Veep Debate Moderator?

There's word today that PBS anchor Gwen Ifill may be removed as moderator of Thursday's vice presidential debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin because of Ifill's new book, out on Inauguration Day, that praises Barack Obama.

Ifill's impartiality and credibility have been under attack this week, as word of the book's existence became known.

The McCain-Palin campaign was not aware of it when they agreed to Ifill as the moderator, a spokesman told Fox News' Greta Van Sustern.

Whether the Republicans have lodged a formal request is speculated, but not known.

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Will Ifill's Obama Bias Show In Veep Debate?

By Bob Unruh/© 2008 WorldNetDaily ~ The moderator of Thursday's vice presidential debate between Democrat Sen. Joe Biden and GOP Gov. Sarah Palin is writing a book, to come out about the time the next president takes the oath of office, to "shed new light" on Democratic candidate Barack Obama and other "emerging young African American politicians" who are "forging a bold new path to political power."

Gwen Ifill, of the Public Broadcasting Service program called "Washington Week," is promoting "The Breakthrough," in which she argues the "Black political structure" of the civil rights movement is giving way to men and women who have benefited from those struggles over racial equality.

Ifill declined to return a WND telephone message asking for a comment about her book project, and whether its success would be expected should Obama lose. But she has faced criticism previously for not treating candidates of both major parties the same.

During an earlier debate event she moderated, when Democrat John Edwards attacked Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, the vice president said, "I can respond, Gwen, but it's going to take more than 30 seconds."

"Well, that's all you've got," she told him.

Ifill told The Associated Press Democrats were delighted with her answer, because they "thought I was being snippy to Cheney." She explains that wasn't her intent.

But she also was cited in complaints PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler said he got after Palin delivered her nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis this year.

The complaints cited Ifill's "dismissive" look during her report on Palin's speech. According to Getler, some complaints also said she wore a look of "disgust" while reporting on Palin.

Read the entire column at www.worldnetdaily.com.

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Shooting Sports Foundation Targets Obama

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has joined other pro-2nd Amendment groups in criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

The NSSF has launched an ad campaign that says, "Barack Obama has supported a total ban on handguns, a ban on the sale or transfer of all semi-auto firearms, a ban on right-to-carry permits, (and) a ban on firearms kept in the home."

The first ad appears in the October issue of Guns & Ammo magazine.

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Biden's Son Resigns Lobbyist Job

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Hunter has stopped working as a federal lobbyist, work that had made him a Republican target in the presidential contest.

“I no longer expect to act as a federal lobbyist,” Hunter Biden said in a letter to the Clerk of the House and the Senate Office of Public Records. The letter is dated Aug. 25 and was made public Friday.

While some in the news media have focused on Replublican John McCain's association with former lobbyists, there's been little mention of the high profile lobbying done by Biden's son.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, who chose Biden as his running mate last month, has been a vocal critic of rival McCain’s ties to lobbyists. In a television ad Friday, Obama repeated criticisms of McCain for having current and former prominent lobbyists on his campaign staff.

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Clinton Adviser Penn: Media 'Biggest loser'

CBSNews.com: Your former colleague Howard Wolfson argued that you all unintentionally paved the way for Palin by exposing some of the unfair media coverage that Hillary Clinton received. And, therefore, a lot of the media may now be treating Sarah Palin with kid gloves. Do you agree with that?

Mark Penn: Well, no, I think the people themselves saw unfair media coverage of Senator Clinton. I think if you go back, the polls reflected very clearly what "Saturday Night Live" crystallized in one of their mock debates about what was happening with the press. I think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I think that when you see them going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they don't do that for all four of the candidates, they're on very dangerous ground. I think the media so far has been the biggest loser in this race. And they continue to have growing credibility problems. And I think that that's a real problem growing out of this election. The media now, all of the media — not just Fox News, that was perceived as highly partisan — but all of the media is now being viewed as partisan in one way or another. And that is an unfortunate development.

CBSNews.com: So you think the media is being uniquely tough on Palin now?

Mark Penn: Well, I think that the media is doing the kinds of stories on Palin that they're not doing on the other candidates. And that's going to subject them to people concluding that they're giving her a tougher time. Now, the media defense would be, "Yeah, we looked at these other candidates who have been in public life at an earlier time." What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech, something that is unprecedented, because they wanted to see for themselves. This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them.

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Biden: Media Attack On Palin 'Outrageous'

From The Hill ~ Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden repeated a Republican line of attack Thursday, slamming reporters for their “outrageous” and “sexist” treatment of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

“I just think some of the stuff said has been over the top, totally unfair, and has been sexist and I think the way the governor has handled it has been admirable,” the Delaware senator said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“I think this stuff about how can she be a governor and vice president and raise...kids, c'mon, whoever those folks are don't know any strong women.

“The truth is, some of the stuff that the press has said about Sarah and that others have said about the governor, I think, are outrageous. Look, I think kids are off-limits, flat off-limits.”

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Rasmussen: 58% View Palin Favorably

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.

The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view. Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A week ago, 67% had never heard of her.

The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.

Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.

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Soledad O'Brien: In The Bag For Obama

The newest example of a cable network anchor in the bag for Barack Obama comes in the form of CNN's Soledad O'Brien, who today has a new hangup about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Palin, O'Brien has repeated dozens of times, has only had a U. S. passport for a year and a half and has only traveled to two countries.

This elitist view has fueled yet another media backlash, primarily among conservative bloggers: "The average American doesn't have a passport," wrote one. "Only rich people and people like O'Brien, who travel the world on their corporate credit cards, have them."

O'Brien, among the CNN personnel whose worshipful reports about Obama and Joe Biden mark her as among those in the media most supportive of the Democrat team, has attacked Palin relentlessly since last Friday's announcement she was John McCain's vice presidential running mate.

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Palin Poll: Favorable Opinion Tops Biden

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment.

By way of comparison, on the day he was selected as Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama's running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was viewed favorably by 43% of voters.

As for voters not affiliated with either major party, 37% are more likely to vote for Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and 28% less likely to do so. Those numbers are a bit more positive than initial reaction to Biden.

When Biden was selected, just over half (52%) of Democrats believed he was the right choice. Sixty-three percent (63%) of Republicans say McCain picked the right running mate in Palin, and 40% of unaffiliated voters agree. A week ago, 31% of unaffiliateds said the same about Obama's selection.

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Hillary Supporters Turn On Obama

From Assorted Sources ~ We knew it. That's what some of Hillary Clinton's most ardent supporters say privately now, after John McCain stunned the political world with his unorthodox choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, thus stealing the political play story from Barack Obama and empahsizing Obama's failure to pick Clinton as his running mate.

From liberal bloggers to unnamed friends of Hillary, the theme is the same: McCain stole Obama's thunder...Obama blundered when he didn't pick Hillary...Joe Biden isn't smart enough to face Palin and deal with her without putting his foot in his mouth....

"We knew it," posted one blogger on a national tv network site about a story showing Palin's selection had spurred McCain fundraising. "Obama gave them the opening, and they took it."

Democrat slime-tossers, meanwhile, are going after Palin and her family in attacks that, thus far, seem only to be further energizing Republicans and fueling even more enthusiasm for the small-town-mayor-turned-governor-turned-vice-presidential-nominee.

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McCain-Palin Bounce Erases Obama-Biden Bounce; Poll Shows Presidential Race A Dead Heat

ST. PAUL, Minnesota/CNN ~ On the eve of the Republican convention, a new national poll suggests the race for the White House remains dead even.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, a statistical dead heat.

The survey was conducted Friday through Sunday, after both the conclusion of the Democratic convention and McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between Sens. McCain, R-Arizona, and Obama, D-Illinois, was tied at 47 percent each.

“The convention — and particularly Obama's speech — seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces — assuming that either one created a bounce at all,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

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Now, The Campaign Begins

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On The Road To November...

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GOP Group's Director Faults Biden Pick

Barack Obama doesn’t have the experience necessary to lead the country and his pick of a vice presidential running mate who is a "consumate D. C. insider" proves he recognizes that, a Republican leader said today.

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, who was named Obama's running mate early Saturday, has been a critic of Obama’s foreign policy, said Matt Pinnell, director of Oklahoma Victory 2008.

"It is painfully clear Obama is trying to compensate for his lack of experience by selecting Biden," Pinnell said.

Biden, who twice failed in his bid to become president, is serving his sixth term in the U.S. Senate.

Said Pinnell: "For a candidate preaching 'change,' this pick makes no sense at all. Senator Biden is the consummate D.C. insider. How can anyone take seriously Senator Obama’s campaign rhetoric?"

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Obama Picks Joe Biden

Barack Obama has named Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

John McCain’s presidential campaign, playing an aggressive version of the expectations game, circulated a campaign memo predicting Obama will get a 5-point bump by naming his VP choice, and nearly 15-point bump in the opinion polls as a result of next week’s Democratic Convention.

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