* He knows he's in a fight. The presidential contest is virtually dead even in national polling, and Biden's attack on McCain, right from the start yesterday, suggests the beginning of a new, more hard-edged phase of the campaign.
As his tightly controlled running-mate selection process showed, Obama insists on loyalty from advisers and gets it. Yet by selecting Biden, he sent a strong signal that he doesn't intend to surround himself with yes-men.
Several analysts made the point that Obama didn't follow the "new generation" model that Bill Clinton pioneered in 1992 when he selected Al Gore as his ticket mate. Instead, Obama wound up in the same place that candidate George W. Bush did eight years ago, when he turned to a Washington veteran in an effort to compensate for his own lack of national experience.
"Biden is like Dick Cheney, without some of the baggage," said Michigan pollster Ed Sarpolus. "Voters still don't know Obama, but this will demonstrate his judgment and what kind of team he is going to have. He didn't go with a woman, but he went with somebody who has credentials and is respected."
With both parties holding conventions during the next two weeks, Obama wants to use his to introduce himself to undecided voters.
He welcomed the Delaware senator to the ticket at a rally yesterday, the opening scene of a four-day miniseries, tailored for TV, which the Democrats will spin out in Denver.
"Joe Biden is that rare mix - for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him," Obama told a sun-drenched crowd in Springfield, Ill. He noted that Biden has continued to take Amtrak home to Wilmington every night.
"He is still that scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds; the dedicated family man and committed Catholic who knows every conductor on that Amtrak train to Wilmington," Obama said. "That's the kind of fighter who I want by my side in the months and years to come."
Biden followed with an enthusiastic display of attack skills. He ridiculed McCain's inability to say how many homes he owns, questioned his character and criticized his support for Bush's policies.
McCain "gave in to the right wing of his party and yielded to the very Swift boat politics that he once so deplored," said Biden.
Gesturing toward Obama, who sat onstage behind him, Biden called him the one candidate who has passed the test of "character and leadership" in the presidential contest.
