Reporters traveling wtih Sen. Biden brought this cut-out of Sen. McCain onto the Biden campaign plane Saturday morning.

WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) – So far, Sen. Joe Biden has declined to question opponent Sarah Palin's record, but a gag by the press corps traveling in Biden's plane gave the senator's staff an opportunity to take aim at Palin for ducking the media and being "more of the same."

A group of reporters covering the vice presidential nominee brought a cardboard cut-out of Sen. John McCain aboard Biden's plane–an irreverent reference to the Democrat's tendency to cite John McCain as "my friend" and tell voters a variation of this story he told in West Palm Beach, Fla. last week: "If John McCain picked up the phone today and said, Joe, I need you to get in a plane and fly out to Missoula, I can't tell you why, I'd get in a plane and I'd go. And I believe he'd do it for me."

Before Biden's campaign plane taxied to the runway, headed for Montana, Biden spokesman David Wade responded to the joke with a jab at Palin. "You realize you could've made history," Wade said. "If you'd found a cardboard cut-out of Governor Palin, that's the closest she would've been to taking tough questions from the national media since she was selected…Yet another way that McCain-Palin is more of the same."

The McCain camp has fired back. “This is probably a great day for Joe Biden,” Ben Porritt, a spokesman for McCain-Palin 2008, told CNN. “He’s never been shy about wanting to campaign on the same ticket as John McCain.”

Palin was the only of the four nominees not to make an appearance on a news talk show Sunday. The Alaska governor has been making a western swing with John McCain this week, and drawing crowds in the tens of thousands.

Ona Sunday political talk show, Sen. Biden discussed his upcoming debate against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden says he's debated "an awful lot of tough, smart women" throughout his career and next month's vice presidential debate with Republican Sarah Palin will be no exception.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Democratic vice presidential nominee called Palin "a smart, tough politician" who'll be a "very formidable" opponent.

The Delaware senator and the Alaska governor are scheduled to debate October 2nd at Washington University in St. Louis.

Asked about debating Palin versus one of the male politicians considered possible running mates for John McCain, such as Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge, Biden said the only difference is that he knows their positions on issues. Biden says he assumes Palin's policies are the same as McCain's, but adds "I just don't know."

Despite his campaign schedule, Joe Biden is still teaching his law school class.

WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) — Joe Biden may be a vice presidential nominee during the week, but on Saturdays he's still trying to keep his old schedule.

After a week of criss-crossing the country, Biden returned home to Wilmington Friday evening in time to teach his law school class the next morning. Since 1991, the senator has taught "Current Topics in Constitutional Law" to a small seminar of students at Widener School of Law in Wilmington.

This is the only class the Democratic running mate has been able to helm so far this year. The first class was scheduled for the day after Barack Obama tapped Biden for his vp pick.

A spokesman for the university says he expects this to be Biden's last time teaching this semester.
The popular course is capped at 18 students, and there is a waiting list to register.

On American Morning Thursday, Sen. Biden both praised and criticized Gov. Palin's speech at the GOP convention.

(CNN) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden praised his Republican counterpart's acceptance speech as "incredibly well-crafted and delivered," but said Sarah Palin's rhetoric lacked substance.

Watch: Biden on American Morning

"I didn't hear the phrase 'middle class.' I didn't hear a single word about health care. I didn't hear a single word about helping people get to college," Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware, told CNN's "American Morning" Thursday.

He went on to list other policy areas the Alaska governor did not address Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"They don't have a single answer [for] how to dig us out of the hole we've been dug into the last eight years," Biden added.

Full story

Sen. Biden said Thursday that Republicans are distorting Sen. Obama's record.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) — Joe Biden warned supporters Thursday not to expect him to unleash “one-line zingers” in his debates with GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — even if she does.

“I will be unrelenting in my debate with governor, the governor of Alaska in terms of the positions she has taken,” Biden said. “But I will not do what she is able to do so well, and many others–not bad. I am not good at the one-line zingers that go at, you know, that’s not my deal. So if that is going to be the measure of how these debates go, then I’m not going to do very well.”

Palin attacked the Democratic ticket in her speech to the Republican National Convention Wednesday, belittling Obama’s experience and charging he cares more about his career than about achieving victory in Iraq.

Biden broadly condemned “distortions” from Republican opponents at a campaign event Thursday, but took only a veiled swipe at Palin.

“[You’re] seeing distortions from opponents — this thing of 'country first,' this awful line about Barack Obama being more concerned about his career than winning a war,” Biden said. “I thought we were beyond that.”

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Biden said he would debate Palin with respect.

SARASOTA, Florida (CNN) – Joe Biden again refused to attack the experience of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, hours before she was to deliver a speech sharply critical of the Democratic ticket.

At an event in Sarasota, a voter asked Biden how he would debate Palin when she “was not prepared to face an international crisis.”

Biden offered a strong rebuke.

“Well look, the answer is one word: with respect,” he said. “She is the governor of a state. She warrants respect.”

He told the crowded high school gymnasium he would debate Palin on the issues, not on her experience of governor of Alaska.

“It will be determined by what her positions are,” Biden said. “Our disagreements will be based upon how fundamentally, if it is fundamental, and I expect it's likely to be, her views on everything form the Supreme Court, protecting a woman's right, all the way up to ending the war in Iraq. That's what it's going to be based upon.”

Carly Fiorina, a prominent surrogate for Sen. McCain, toured the podium Tuesday on the floor of the Republican convention.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — Senior McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said Tuesday that Barack Obama, Joe Biden and other Democrats were engaging in sexist attacks on Sarah Palin, as Republicans continued to invoke Hillary Clinton to criticize the Democratic presidential ticket.

“I am appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience,” said Fiorina. “The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life.

“Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.”

Fiorina pointed to a Monday interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, when Obama responded to GOP arguments that Palin had more executive experience than he or Biden did.

“Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has I think 50 employees,” he said. “We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years.”

Watch: Obama appears on Anderson Cooper 360

She also pointed to a comment Biden made on the trail over the weekend, when he joked with the crowd at a campaign event that one of the “obvious differences” between him and Palin was that she is “good looking.”

DEERFIELD BEACH, Florida (CNN) – Joe Biden gave a fiery speech designed to reassure Jewish voters of Barack Obama’s support of Israel.

“I give you my word as a Biden, I would not have given up (my) job to be Barack Obama's vice president if I didn't in my gut and in my heart and in my head know that Barack Obama is exactly where I am on Israel,” he said.

On an earlier trip to Boca Raton, Florida, Obama himself confronted Internet rumors that he is Muslim and anti-Israel. Obama is a Christian.

“I want to just repeat this because I know that there’s a lot of rumor mongering going around. People have been getting e-mails non-stop,” Obama told a crowd at a synagogue in May.

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Watch Sen. Biden's comments about Gov. Palin and her family in Florida Tuesday.

DEERFIELD BEACH, Florida (CNN) — Joe Biden responded to questions on the news that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant by telling voters “children are off-limits,” just as running mate Barack Obama has done.

Biden was speaking at a Florida town hall meeting when an audience member asked what he really thought about the 17-year-old’s pregnancy.

Watch: 'Children are off limits,' says Biden

“With regard to the stuff that you’re talking about, I have a simple proposition: children are off limits,” he said. “We’ve all been through things with our children, and it’s about common decency. Just treat people with common decency.”

The audience, a group of retired residents of Deerfield Century Village East, met the answer with resounding applause.

Democrats have begun assailing Palin for what they call insufficient executive and foreign policy experience, but Biden refused the opportunity to bite.

“I don’t know the governor,” he said. “Everything I know about her, there’s no reason not to respect her and believe she’s qualified to be the vice president. I’m not going to make that judgment. That’s the people – for you all to make.”

He also echoed Obama’s comment that Palin is a “compelling” person, and he said he takes her “on face value.”

“She’s the governor, that’s no mean feat, and she seems to have a strong personal story,” he said.

Sens. Biden and Obama campaigned together in Michigan Sunday.

(CNN) – If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

The blog Politicker ME reports that at a Maine delegate breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove, the so-called “architect” of the Bush administration, called Biden a “big blowhard doofus.” Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is notorious in Washington for being talkative at Senate hearings.

Later, in response to a different question, Rove is reported to have asked "Is there press in this room?"

Biden addressed the criticism during a flight on his campaign plane Monday evening. A reporter asked if the senator would now answer to “Senator Doofus.”

“You can call me anything you want,” he said. “I learned a long time ago you can call me anything you want.”

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Sens. Biden and Obama campaigned together in Michigan Sunday.

(CNN) – If Sen. Joe Biden was hurt that Republican operative Karl Rove called him a “big blowhard doofus” at an event in Minneapolis Monday, he didn’t show it.

On hearing the news, Biden grinned and said “he’s a great American.”

The blog Politicker ME reports that at a Maine delegate breakfast at the Republican National Convention, Rove, the so-called “architect” of the Bush administration, called Biden a “big blowhard doofus.” Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is notorious in Washington for being talkative at Senate hearings.

Later, in response to a different question, Rove is reported to have asked "Is there press in this room?"

Biden addressed the criticism during a flight on his campaign plane Monday evening. A reporter asked if the senator would now answer to “Senator Doofus.”

“You can call me anything you want,” he said. “I learned a long time ago you can call me anything you want.”

Read the rest of this entry »

PITTSBURGH, Pennslyvania (CNN) – Hurricane Gustav is having an impact on both sides of the aisle: hours after prompting Republican John McCain to scale back the GOP convention schedule, the storm is affecting the plans of his Democratic counterparts as well.

Citing the dire situation along the Gulf Coast, Senator Joe Biden cancelled his plans to march in Pittsburgh's annual Labor Day parade Monday. Instead, Biden was to give a statement on the hurricane at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Watch: Biden reacts to Gustav

The campaign still planned to hold two afternoon events in Scranton, Pennsylvania, including a discussion on jobs and the economy at Biden's childhood home.

Biden and Obama campaigned in Ohio Sunday.

TOLEDO, Ohio (CNN) – Joe Biden says there are obvious differences between himself and fellow vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, but they’re not just on policy. She’s good-looking.

“There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies.

“She’s good-looking,” he quipped.

“You are gorgeous!” a female supporter in the audience shouted out. Biden asked her to repeat it into the microphone so his wife at home would hear.

“I haven’t heard that in a long, long, long time,” Biden said as the audience laughed. “Being around this lean young-looking guy is making me feel pretty old, you know what I mean? I thought I was in pretty good shape until I hung out with this guy.”

At the rooftop rally, both Biden and Obama commented on Palin for the first time without prompting from reporters. Obama joked he’s now considering going to Palin’s home state of Alaska – the only state he says he hasn’t visited – but chose to focus his comments on her position on equal pay for women.

“John McCain’s new VP nominee seems like a very engaging person, a nice person. But I’ve got to say, she’s opposed - like John McCain is - to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella called Obama's comments a disgrace and "an absurd accusation."

Obama later made sure his running mate realizes he's good-looking as well.

“You see, she thinks you’re gorgeous too Joe,” said Obama. “Jill goes back home and look what happens!”

“This is worth the run,” responded Biden.

DUBLIN, Ohio (CNN) - Barack Obama and Joe Biden urged Gulf Coast residents to evacuate as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the region.

"Even if you've ridden out this storm before, even if you think that it may pass over, even if you think that you can wait until the last minute, this is going to be, potentially, very, very serious," said Obama, in a hastily assembled press conference in front of their campaign bus in Central Ohio. "For your own safety and your family's safety, people have to follow the instructions of the officials there to make sure that this evacuation is going smoothly."

Obama spoke to officials including FEMA Director R. David Paulison, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on Saturday and said he was passing along their message to evacuate. Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans Saturday, calling Gustav "the storm of the century."

Biden also spoke directly to those in the storm's path, telling them to get out of town to avoid weather that may be worse than Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

"Those folks who rode out, do not ride out again, ride out of town. Get out of town. Do what the governor is suggesting, what the mayor is suggesting, what the senators are suggesting. Get out of town," said Biden.

Obama says they're monitoring the situation and urged continued cooperation between FEMA and the Gulf Coast states, noting that not just Louisiana is likely going to be affected but Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Texas.

Word came late Saturday that John McCain would visit an emergency command post in Jackson, Mississippi on Sunday. Asked if he would visit the area, Obama said that because of the large number of staff and press traveling with him, he might be a distraction.

"I will do whatever is required that is useful but right now the main thing that's useful is letting everybody out there know, please evacuate the area," said Obama.

Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden praised McCain's choice of a female for his VP.

(CNN) – Touring a bio-diesel plant in Monaca, Pennyslvania Friday afternoon, Barack Obama and Joe Biden reacted to news that the opposing ticket is now complete, complimenting McCain for choosing a woman but saying Sarah Palin just mirrors the Arizona senator’s policies.

“I'm sure that she will help make the case for the Republicans,” said Obama to reporters accompanying him on the tour. “Unfortunately, the case is more of the same. And so ultimately John McCain is at top of the ticket.”

“As I indicated in my speech last night, I think that he wants to take the country in the wrong direction,” he added. “I'm assuming Governor Palin agrees with him in his policies.”

Obama called Palin “a compelling person” with a terrific personal story and said that her nomination next week is one more indicator that the country is moving forward.

“I think [it] is one more hit against that glass ceiling and I congratulate her and look forward to a vigorous debate,” said Obama. “I'm pleased with my choice for vice president Joe Biden. I think he's the man who can help me guide this country in a better direction and help working families.”

Biden, the man who is expected to be the ticket’s attack dog, stayed relatively mum.

“I'm looking forward to meeting her,” said the Delaware senator.

Earlier Friday, Obama and Biden put out a positive statement congratulating Palin for breaking down barriers. This shortly after campaign spokesman Bill Burton sent one out blasting McCain for putting, “the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

“You know, campaigns start getting these hair triggers and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,” said Obama.

UPDATE: Obama and Biden separately called Palin Friday afternoon to congratulate her on the VP nod, the Obama campaign says. Obama told her she’d be a terrific candidate and that he looked forwarded to the Fall campaign. He wished her luck but not too much, said senior advisor Robert Gibbs.

Minutes later, Biden called and talked with Palin about the shared experience of joining their respective tickets. He said he looked forward to meeting and getting to know her.

Biden waves from the stage with his family Wednesday night.

(CNN) – One of the reasons a strategist never sits in a stadium and get caught up in the crowds — and never sits watching a debate in person — is because the vast majority of American voters watch these political events on television

And while Joe Biden's speech was received well in the convention hall, I am not sure how it will play with most voters at home. It was largely a pedestrian speech, and I don't think was a great first impression for a lot of people.

The Democrats will come out with a unified convention and go into battle. But the idea that the vice presidential candidate is someone who can lend credibility to his nominee to be a commander in chief is wrong. At the end of the day, the country has to make a decision. Who is the leader, who has the experience to be a leader and who can take us to the next decade?

That's what voters get to decide in about ten weeks.

Sen. Obama made a surprise appearance at the convention after Sen. Biden's speech. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Watch: Obama makes surprise visit

Sen. Obama to join Sen. Obama on stage after his acceptance speech.

Barack Obama is set to appear with his running mate Joe Biden following the Delaware senator’s vice presidential acceptance speech tonight, according to his campaign.

Watch: McCain 'not change,' more of the same says Biden

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden acknowledges the crowd before speaking at the DNC. (Photo credit: AP)
The Delaware senator has accepted the nomination, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells the convention in Denver.

Watch: Biden: I accept your nomination

Watch: Biden nominated as Obama's VP

He's been in the Senate for 36 years and run for president twice, but CNN's Mary Snow reports Joe Biden is getting set for what could be the biggest moment of his political life. (Getty Images)