Democrats applaud selection of Biden

As a 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. Joe Biden never made it to the Nevada caucuses. He dropped out two weeks before the Jan. 19 contest.

But some Nevadans got to know Biden, and on Saturday, with Biden's selection as the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, they welcomed him back to the campaign trail.

"He's going to bring a lot of fans to the organization of the general election campaign," said state Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, the only legislator to endorse Biden during the presidential race. "On a grass-roots level, Biden's made thousands of friends all over the country. He never had the money to back it up with a huge organization, so he shook a lot of hands."

Coffin first met Biden at the 1976 Democratic Convention and got to know him over the years. Coffin's field director in his 1996 run for Congress, Danny O'Brien, later became Biden's Senate chief of staff.

Coffin became a supporter of Hillary Clinton after Biden dropped out of the race. Coffin said he thought many Clinton supporters who were leery of Obama would come into the fold because of Biden.

Ronni Council, a Las Vegas political operative who was Biden's state campaign director, said Biden had a lot of support among the older women who were Clinton's base. First-wave feminists who campaigned for the Equal Rights Act admired Biden's work on the Violence Against Women Act and similar legislation, she said.

"A lot of those women had a really hard time supporting Obama. Now they're coming on board," said Council, who worked for Clinton's campaign after Biden exited the race. "My e-mail is full today of people saying, 'If it's Joe Biden, I'm going to campaign so hard.'"

Biden was overshadowed in Nevada, as elsewhere, by the better-funded campaigns of Clinton and Obama. "He was everybody's second choice," Council said.

Council headed up a shoestring effort for Biden in Nevada, running a two-person staff out of a storefront on West Charleston Boulevard.

The Clinton and Obama staffs numbered in the dozens.

Biden visited Nevada five times in 2007, participating in a candidates' forum in Carson City and a debate in Las Vegas.

He spoke at an AFL-CIO dinner and to a meeting of the Culinary Workers union in Las Vegas, and attended a labor convention in Reno.

Even though he no longer was in the race, Biden won a single precinct delegate of the more than 10,000 allocated in the caucuses.

Biden doesn't have any particular ties to Nevada or the West, nor does he have any particular baggage on the state's pet issues.

He is a longtime opponent of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and voted against the project when it came before the Senate in 2002.

"The first rule of a vice presidential pick is, 'Do no harm,' and Biden certainly does him (Obama) no harm in Nevada," said Eric Herzik, a University of Nevada, Reno, political scientist. "Does he really help him in Nevada? Well, he doesn't hurt him."

Biden has good labor credentials, an important Nevada voting bloc but one that seemed to be lining up behind Obama anyway.

A spokesman for Republican John McCain's campaign in Nevada argued that Biden wouldn't help Obama make inroads in the West, particularly against McCain, who calls Arizona home.

"When you think of Nevada, it's an independent state in the West," Rick Gorka said.

"Senator McCain is a Western senator who's worked on water and land issues his whole career. Adding a Democrat from Delaware doesn't add any points on those issues."

Gorka said Biden's own criticisms of Obama as inexperienced would underscore that impression for Nevadans, while Biden's long Washington career would undercut Obama's message of change.

Nevada Democrats, on the other hand, appeared to have gotten their wish with Biden.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had sounded bullish on Biden, praising him in more enthusiastic terms than others under consideration for the position.

Reid released a statement Saturday praising Obama's selection.

"Senator Obama has once again demonstrated sound judgment in selecting Senator Biden as his running mate," Reid said.

"After eight years of an administration that refuses to level with the American people, President Obama and Vice President Biden will finally give America the real straight talk we need and needed change that we can believe in."

Nevada's other Democrat in Congress, Rep. Shelley Berkley, also had been rooting for Biden's selection.

During a conference call Thursday on another topic, Berkley was asked who she favored and didn't hesitate.

"I like Joe Biden," she said immediately.

Berkley said Biden would "help solidify his (Obama's) support with the Jewish community," because he has a good record on issues related to Israel.

In a statement Saturday, Berkley said Biden "has traveled Nevada and he has been with us on our key issues, including Yucca Mountain. I am genuinely delighted with his selection as our vice presidential nominee.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.