Joe Biden Does Well in South Carolina Visit

Joe Biden is not considered one of the frontrunners in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 but he may have helped himself in a recent visit to South Carolina; here's the story from Lee Bandy of The Sun News:

It was unlike most Columbia Rotary Club luncheons. The speaker was U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a likely candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

The chief topic: the Iraq war.

The audience: predominantly Republican.

Biden humorously took note of that in his opening remarks.

"I want to thank you all for allowing me a trip here to speak to only Republicans. It's like my home town. I just won every district in my state except the one I live in," he quipped.

(snip)

This Yankee senator quickly disarmed his conservative audience, many of whom came expecting partisan attacks on President Bush and Republicans in general.

(snip)

"America needs, and I need, for the Republican Party to get back up," he said.

"There's not a single problem out there that cannot be solved without a bipartisan coalition," said Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He held the audience sway for over an hour, roaming the floor like an evangelist.

The ability to reach out to Republicans can be a real asset in the 2008 election; come to think of it, it can be a real asset in the Senate where the Democrats hold a razor-thin majority. Senator Biden is going to be one of the most important people in Washington for the next two years. He's chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Biden is a good debater on foreign policy and whether one agrees with him or not, it would be good to hear his voice in any debates the Democrats have in the next two years. Coincidentally, the first debate just may be in South Carolina this coming April:

The chairman of South Carolina's Democratic Party says he expects to host a presidential debate in Columbia next spring.

Joe Erwin says the debate would be tied to the April 27th Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and the state party convention the next day.

I suspect Iraq and Bush's foreign policy will be a subject of discussion. If Senator Biden decides to run, he will have much to say.