Obama ends suspense, picks Biden Del. senator called ‘proven advocate’ for gay rights
LOU CHIBBARO JR Saturday, August 23, 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s decision to pick Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) as his vice presidential running mate drew immediate praise from gay activists in Delaware, who called Biden a strong and reliable friend of the gay community.
After more than two months of deliberation over selecting a vice presidential nominee, Obama announced Biden’s selection shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday in text messages and e-mails sent to his campaign supporters.
Although Biden, 65, has not signed on as a co-sponsor for as many gay-related bills as activists would have liked, he has voted for gay-supportive legislation and against anti-gay measures nearly every time such legislation came before the Senate during his 35-year tenure as a senator, according to Delaware activists.
“You won’t see him taking the lead on gay issues, but whenever there is a vote, he’s always with us,” said Peter Schott, president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Delaware, a gay rights group.
“He’s a great choice for vice president,” said Steve Elkins, executive director of Camp Rehoboth, a gay social and community service organization in Rehoboth Beach, a Delaware resort town with a large gay community.
“Biden has always been very supportive of everything we’ve done,” Elkins said.
Last year, after announcing his candidacy for president, Biden joined other Democratic presidential candidates, including Obama, in expressing support for an employment non-discrimination bill that includes both gays and transgender persons.
"We have reason to think he's very positive on all LGBT issues," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
In a questionnaire sent to all presidential candidates by the Human Rights Campaign, Biden also indicated, similar to Obama, that he supports civil unions for same-sex couples rather than marriage rights. Like Obama, Biden said he favors providing couples joined in civil unions with all of the rights and benefits of marriage.
Biden dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year after losing to Obama and other candidates in the early primaries.
In his role as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden has been credited with shepherding through the Senate earlier this year a sweeping global AIDS relief bill that includes a provision repealing the U.S. ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
HRC gave Biden a rating of 78 out of a possible 100 in its most recent congressional scorecard on gay- and AIDS-related issues, which covered the years 2005-2006. Biden lost points in the rating, according to HRC, because he didn’t sign on as a co-sponsor to the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow same-sex partners of U.S. citizens who are foreign nationals to obtain the same immigration benefits as foreigners who are married spouses of U.S. citizens. Delaware activists have said they believe Biden would vote for the bill if it reaches the Senate floor. The measure has been stalled in Congress for more than four years.
Over the past 20 years, Biden’s HRC scorecard rating varied from a perfect 100 to a 63.
In recent years, Biden has voted for hate crimes legislation and against a constitutional amendment calling for banning same-sex marriage. As a candidate for president earlier this year, Biden said he favors repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the U.S. military.
In 1994, Biden broke ranks with many of his Republican and Democratic colleagues by voting for an amendment to prevent the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy from being enacted into law. The amendment, which lost, came at a time when President Bill Clinton backed the policy as a compromise after Congress refused to support Clinton’s original plan for allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Biden’s only significant vote against the interests of gay rights came in 1996, when he joined many of his Democratic colleagues in voting for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage under federal law as a union only between one man and one woman.
Information compiled by HRC shows that between 1990 and 2000, Biden voted for three separate versions of hate crimes bills that included protections for gays. In 1992, Biden voted for a procedural motion to stop an attempt by Congress to bar the D.C. government from implementing its local domestic partners law. The motion failed. “In selecting Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, Sen. Obama has chosen a proven and effective advocate for fairness and equality that our entire community can be proud of,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Sen. Biden’s record in the United States Senate is one of support and understanding that has been unwavering throughout his career.”
By DAVID ESPO,
AP Special Correspondent 15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama ramped up his search for a running mate on Monday, consulting with one congressional ally by phone and dispatching members of his vice presidential vetting team to the Capitol for meetings. Sen. Dick Durbin said he had spoken with Obama, his fellow Illinois senator.
Jim Johnson and Eric Holder, who comprise two-thirds of the group Obama has asked to help guide his search, met separately with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reps. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.
Obama's campaign announced last week that he has asked Johnson, Holder and Caroline Kennedy to help guide the search.
None of the congressional leaders involved in the meetings have figured in speculation about a possible running mate, suggesting that the day's conversations were designed to seek advice. Durbin and Emanuel are barred from being on the ticket because the Constitution requires that the presidential and vice presidential candidates be from different states.
Johnson himself became a subject of campaign controversy during the day after a weekend report in The Wall Street Journal that he had received loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. with the help of the firm's chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.
Obama's campaign suggested its surrogates call the story "overblown and irrelevant."
But Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, jumped in quickly.
"There is nothing 'overblown and irrelevant' about millions of Americans facing foreclosure and Barack Obama entrusting his most important decision as a presidential candidate to a man who has accepted millions in special loans from a subprime mortgage lender," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the Republican presidential contender.
The selection of a running mate is a top priority for both Obama and McCain.
McCain stirred interest when he held a Memorial Day weekend barbecue at his Arizona home and invited three potential running mates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and their wives.
Obama has fielded numerous questions in recent days about perhaps offering Hillary Rodham Clinton a spot on his ticket. The former first lady suspended her own presidential campaign on Saturday and issued a strong endorsement for the man who edged her out in a marathon race for the nomination.
It seems like CNN's talking heads will be trying to sell the notion that Hillary should be VP on Obama's ticket, tonight. On their political site, the normally-insightful and balanced, John King ends his report, on what to watch for as WV votes are tallied, with a comment that many (read HER Supporters) would like to see her as VP. CNN also quotes a new poll that says 55 percent of Democrats and democrat-leaning independents would like to see Hillary in the #2 slot. The 55% figure provides a specious argument because 75% of her supporters want her to be VP, that along is 37 of the 55%. When we subtract that out 18% want her as VP. The poll also claims also claims that almost half of Obama supporters would like to see her as VP. Fist those numbers don't add up, second, I seriously doubt that! The vast majority of Obama supporters I have met and worked with would be ill at such a thought.
As I wrote in one of last weeks posts, HRC as VP would be a nightmare for a President Obama as he tries to govern. Hillary thinks she is smarter and more deserving of being President than he is, Bill C. would come as part of the team, I cannot see those two egos taking direction from a president they believe would not have been elected without them. As some of you have pointed out, in responses to my previous posts, an Obama-HRC ticket weakens the vital message of change by mixing our agent of change with the consumate agent of business as usual.
I see Cong. Rangell and Sen Schumer, both NY Democrats, positing HRC as VP as a trial balloon. It should be firmly rejected. One of the best ways to do that will be to have Senator Obama ready to name his running mate as soon as he acquires enough votes to lock up the nomination.
In the meantime, just say NO.
