Biden? Biden? Anyone remember Joe Biden?
In case the American voting population may have forgotten, there is another vice presidential nominee out there. His name is Joe Biden.
He could be the equivalent of the Professor and Mary Ann in the first year of Gilligan's Island where they were just referred to as "the rest" in the popular sitcom theme song. But as "Island" fans will remember, in season two they were given their proper billing at the end of the song.
Back in the saddle
Just like the forgotten duo, Joe Biden is back and getting his proper recognition. Why? Well, it's because of Sarah Palin, sure, but news is news.
He's gearing up for his October 2 debate with the "moose-shooter" (as Barack Obama described Governor Palin recently). And he's doing it by preparing with another female Governor who shares similarities with Palin.
Getting ready to rumble
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will play the part of Sarah Palin in multiple sparring sessions preparing the sometimes-gaffe prone Senator for the upcoming showdown.
Granholm and Palin are both sitting Governors. They're both in the same age bracket and both competed in beauty pageants. In fact, Granholm once appeared on "The Dating Game." And they've both been described as "tough as nails."
Just a sample
Biden gave a little preview of his strategy at a fundraiser last night in Chicago.
"I know what she's going to try to do," told the gathering of supporters. "She's going to try to make it as personal as she can. She's going to take a lot of straight lefts and jabs at me, she's going to try to get me to respond, she's going to try to get me to respond in a personal way. That's not my style. I'm not going to do it."
His style? Not small ball. Not the stuff currently circulating around the blogs and news sites like the "Bridge to Nowhere" or her story of listing the Alaska state plane on Ebay, he said. He's going large.
"What I care about is what in God’s name she's going to do – along with John McCain – about the thousands of people who don’t have health care," he said.
Further, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, he's going to ask her about "the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan where my helicopter was forced down...John McCain wants to know where Bin Laden and the gates of Hell are? I can tell him where. That's where Al Qaeda is. That's where Bin Ladin is. It's not in the country of Iraq."
Don't believe them polls
He also cautioned the group about reading too much into recent polls which show an exodus of women leaving the Obama-Biden ticket to the McCain-Palin team.
"The press is exaggerating how white women are all of a sudden for Sarah Palin," Biden said. "We still have more women voting for Barack Obama than for John McCain."
The upcoming debate is scheduled for October 2 at Washington University in St. Louis and begins at 8pm (CT).
