Posted on 09/25/2006 7:06:34 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., bucked a trend by announcing his intention to run for president over the weekend - distinguishing himself from other visiting hopefuls who have dodged the question on their respective visits to Iowa.
Biden swept through eastern Iowa on Sept. 23, stumping and raising money for Democratic congressional hopeful Dave Loebsack during a two-day tour of the state.
"I'm coming back next year to do something else," Biden said near the end of his speech in Cedar Rapids, referring to next fall's run-up to Iowa's January 2008 caucuses, which signal the official start of the presidential election cycle.
Delaware's senior senator touched on health care, the minimum wage, the balance of power in Congress, and the overall direction of the country to the crowd of roughly 40 Democratic supporters.
Interestingly, Biden took a page from the Republican playbook by accusing President Bush of not having a plan for certain issues - a tactic that has often been used against Democrats.
While pacing across the living room of supporters Dave and Stacey O'Brien, Biden also spoke to the attentive backers on the broader outlook of the American people.
"It is a hallmark of Americanism that we're full of grit and optimism," Biden said. He asserted that the optimism is being worn away, more than partly because of Republican policies - a point that has been pushed lately by many Democrats.
"Taxing wages and not taxing investments has caused the economy to contract," Biden said as his animated speech rose to a yell, clenching his fists to illustrate his point.
Loebsack introduced and opened for Biden, after conversing and handshaking over shrimp and cheese platters.
Loebsack, a political-science professor at Mount Vernon's Cornell College, currently trails his opponent, U.S. Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa, by more than 10 percent, according to a recent Cedar Rapids Gazette poll.
"I have to tell people who I am, what motivates me, what drives me, what my message is," Loebsack said. He cited data that says Leach has low approval ratings and is aided by Loebsack's lack of name recognition.
Harvey Ross, a supporter at the event and longtime Democratic activist, agreed with Loebsack.
"The question is, will he raise the money to get his message to all voters?" Ross said. "He needs to get their attention."
And Hillary is laughing her a$$ off.
Everyone sing..." It's looking alot like Christmas... everywhere you go...." Great news for us.
Making a LARGE bowl of popcorn .... frosty beverages at hand. Should be a fun thread.
Hair Plug Ping!
oh goody, we get to watch the king of "smirks"
Doogle
Nor are some conservatives:
Biden Proves Hes a Man of His Word
Yeah, he has a history of that...
Biden on the radio coming up on:
http://www.whoradio.com/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html?refreshed=yes
NOOOOO! Really? I'd have never guessed... /sarc
That's a lotta laffin'!........
Were those his own words?........
..seems to me he has a bad case of kerryitist...he went from the brightest to the dumbest in 4 months...could it have been because the guy or girl that was taking his test got tired of his fake smile and blew him off as a lecher?
Doogle
He is a fool. But that's the fun of the presidential races - making fun of the fools.
I'm sure they were. He's been hinting er.. drooling at this for about a year now.
So the plagiarist Biden is gonna run...and millions out there make WC runs all the time.
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