DENVER - Maryland Democrats cheered yesterday a presidential ticket that will include a senator from neighboring Delaware with family ties to Baltimore, saying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s knowledge of Chesapeake Bay troubles could spark sorely needed protections.
Gov. Martin O'Malley predicted that Biden would become a "critical ally" on the environment if elected, and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said the senator has a "keen understanding" of the Chesapeake's needs because he is "from a border state and comes every day through Maryland" during his commute to Washington.
Barack Obama's choice of Biden, state Democrats said, would also help ease concerns of voters who say Obama lacks the international affairs experience needed by a head of state and would also mitigate the elitist label that critics are trying to pin on the presumptive nominee.
With Biden's upbringing in Scranton, Pa., "they definitely cannot accuse Joe of being an elitist," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore. "I have always seen Joe as just your regular guy, the same kind of guy who I met during the summer when I worked at Bethlehem Steel."
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Montgomery County said that Obama "has exhibited tremendous judgment on foreign policy issues, but I think Joe Biden, with his long track record of experience in that area, will further strengthen those credentials."
State Republicans - joined privately by some Democrats - said the selection of Biden undercut Obama's overriding campaign message of change.
Republicans were quick to revive critical quotes that Biden leveled at Obama's relative inexperience during the primary season, when Biden was a contender for the presidency.
"I think Obama was desperate for some foreign policy heft," said Maryland Republican Party Executive Director Justin Ready, calling Biden the "ultimate insider."
On the eve of Biden's campaign launch last year, the senator was quoted in an article calling Obama "articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," a description that some decried as broadly offensive. Biden apologized.
"This is showing [Obama] is a bigger person and can get beyond that," said Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, an Obama supporter, adding, "I think you need a balance" of both change and experience on the ticket this year.
Dixon said Biden would be a friend of urban areas, noting his support for the Clinton-era program that gave cities more money to hire police officers.
