Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Biden Selected by Obama
Aired August 23, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It's official, Obama/Biden, '08.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a brilliant, relatively young man who is the nominee of the Democratic Party, who is leading John McCain on every area except the one where experience just intuitively suggests -- people think if you're experienced, you must know more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Joe Biden's experience, Barack Obama's promise to bring real change to Washington. Is this the ticket to win the White House?
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, August 23rd. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Good morning to you all. I'm T.J.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, T.J., nice to see you.
HOLMES: Good to meet you. Betty, is it?
NGUYEN: A long time. Yes, finally back. And boy, do we have some breaking news this morning.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
So while you were sleeping, Barack Obama picked Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. CNN, and the best political team on television, was first with that news.
HOLMES: And congratulations. This is what happens after you become the vice presidential running mate, your house is put on live national television while you're still sleeping possibly. This is Senator Biden's home in Delaware -- Wilmington, Delaware. A live picture there where reporters have been staked out for quite some time actually. He's going to make his first campaign experience with Obama at a campaign rally that is happening in Springfield, Illinois, around 3:00 Eastern time today. We are expecting -- we did see a live picture here a short time ago, about an hour, of a big black SUV going into that home, also a police car that was going in. So certainly caused those reporters down there to start to scramble and take some pictures and think that possibly the senator is being picked up in a short time heading to an airport where he will head to Springfield, Illinois. But we are keeping an eye on that. We will have live coverage of all the events that happen this morning, including the Springfield, Illinois, rally.
NGUYEN: OK. The Obama pick coming up in a text message. That's how it happened actually, at 3:00 a.m. Eastern today. It confirmed what Democratic sources had been telling CNN, that Biden had been tapped as Obama's running mate. The text, and I'm going to quote here, said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama/Biden rally live at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Spread the word."
HOLMES: CNN was the first to confirm the news, hours before the official announcement, before that official text went out. CNN's Ed Henry in Washington this morning for us.
It's been a busy night. And Ed, we hope that all those people who were expecting to be the first to know through text message aren't too upset with John King for breaking the story last night. But no, they were not the first to know.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, CNN had it first. Just after midnight Eastern time John King broke this story. It was live on "LARRY KING LIVE." And as you said, I got it in the middle of the night as well. Finally confirmed by the Obama campaign, by text message.
But why Joe Biden after all this search? It's very clear why, a very senior Democrat telling me last night he thinks Joe Biden can take a punch, but also he can deliver a punch. The fact of the matter is the Democrats have been growing very nervous in recent weeks that Barack Obama has been battered a bit by John McCain and his surrogates, specifically on the issue of his readiness to be commander-in-chief. They have been hitting him very hard.
And so, very senior Democrats have been urging the Obama campaign to get Biden, someone like Biden anyway, with, first of all, the resume. He's the chairman of the Senate of Foreign Relations Committee. Check that box on national security experience, which Barack Obama does not have. But then also have, secondly, Biden is almost an attack dog, but an attack dog they think with a smile. He's somebody who is friendly, he's got relationships on the Republican side of the aisle, but yet he can be very tough in his television interviews.
I think we have a clip of him recently on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe Senator Obama knows how to win wars? And if he does, how?
BIDEN: I do, and he's -- it's because he has a much more centered view on what our problems are. Look, John McCain was wrong about the war in Iraq. John McCain says the surge worked, but remember the purpose of the surge. The surge wasn't just do bring down violence it was -- quote -- "to create breathing room for a political settlement in Iraq."
That's the only way the military says we can win -- a political settlement. We're no closer to a political settlement.
No. 2, John McCain has finally acknowledged he has to put more troops in Afghanistan or we're going to lose Afghanistan. Over a year-and-a-half ago, Barack Obama said we need two more combat battalions in Afghanistan.
The truth of the matter is that Barack Obama has been centered. We're not running for the chief -- commander-in-chief of Iraq. The president is running to become the -- the candidate is running to become the commander-in-chief of America's interest in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: You can hear Joe Biden there almost auditioning for the job. He's been very tough.
But the McCain campaign, they're game plan is to point out how they've had a lot of disagreements previously. A McCain spokesman, Ben Porritt, saying -- quote -- "There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing -- that Barack Obama is not ready to be president." That's from the McCain camp.
Republicans close to the McCain over the last 24 hours have been telling me that if it was Biden, they have got a whole series of clips -- you'll remember from those tough Democratic primary presidential debates. Remember, Joe Biden was a candidate ever so briefly. And within several of those debates, and was very harsh saying he believes Barack Obama does not have the readiness to be commander-in-chief and that this is not a job for on-the-job training. So that's almost a script that John McCain has been using in recent weeks.
Obviously, the other plan of attack I think you'll see from Republicans is that Barack Obama has based his campaign on the idea of change. They're going to say, how is a Washington insider, first elected to the Senate in 1972, how is that change?
T.J.
HOLMES: Yes, and you mentioned those clips. Those clips are out, pretty much, already. We do have that ad that they're going to be using against him. We're going to be showing them to our viewers here in a second.
One more thing here quickly. By him picking someone who everyone said he needed to pick, somebody with those foreign policy chops, by doing so, isn't Barack Obama sitting here now admitting, yes, I'm struggling in this area a bit? And that's not necessarily a good thing to pitch to voters.
HENRY: Well they would never admit that publicly, but I think you're right. This does offer us a window on Barack Obama's thinking. And the fact is that if he felt he was in a stronger position here, and maybe he were up 8, 10, 12 points over John McCain, he might have rolled the dice a little more and doubled down if you will, on the change message, picked someone like Tim Kaine of Virginia, picked someone like Kathleen Sebelius in Kansas. Those are governors without national security experience however, and I think Barack Obama is clearly signaling here he realized this is a much closer race than he expected, than anyone on his team expected, perhaps.
And the key issue that McCain has seized upon is that lack of national security experience. Barack Obama saying, look, I'm checking that box, I'm going to have maybe Biden focus on the national security, as well as Obama himself, but now Obama can turn, while Biden is the attack dog, and focus on the positive agenda -- the economy, health care, some of those domestic issues -- T.J.
HOLMES: An attack dog with a smile, as he's been described.
Ed Henry for us in Washington.
Ed, good to see you. We'll be talking to you again.
NGUYEN: Well, he may be a high-powered senator, but how does Joe Biden help Barack Obama win over voters?
Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, runs down Biden's political resume.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What does Joe Biden bring to the ticket? The ability to speak knowledgeably about issues like these --
BIDEN: What's going on in Pakistan this very moment as I speak to you, what's going on in the subcontinent, overall, in the Korean peninsula, China, Hugo Chavez rewriting the Constitution to make himself leader for life, and the de-Democratization of Latin America. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a great deal at stake.
SCHNEIDER: Biden's the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's been in the Senate for 36 years. He knows Washington, he knows the world. Two areas where Barack Obama's credentials are a little weak. And, he's from Delaware. Delaware? Just three electoral votes, pretty reliably Democratic.
How does Biden help Obama politically?
Biden is a Catholic and Catholics are swing voters. He has roots in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is a swing state, one that Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're getting national security experience, you're getting enthusiasm, and you hope you're getting some help in those white, working class, blue collar towns, where Barack Obama needs help.
SCHNEIDER: Biden talks a great deal. Sometimes saying things he shouldn't say.
BIDEN: I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African- American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.
KING: The wrap on him is that he talks too long, his speeches don't end, and, occasionally, he goes off the reservation.
SCHNEIDER: Can Biden control his tendency to say too much?
He is certainly trying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An editorial in the "Los Angeles Times" said, in addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine. Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?
BIDEN: Yes.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): Biden has held two of the most important jobs in Washington -- Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That could be reassuring to voters who worry about Obama's inexperience in national and world affairs.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And we are going to talk with our Bill Schneider about Joe Biden live from Denver. That is coming up in less than 30 minutes.
HOLMES: Well, just as quickly as we got word about Joe Biden being selected, John McCain's campaign had something to say about it. They put out this reaction, as our Ed Henry shared with us a moment ago, but a spokesman talking about there being no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden -- "Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing -- that Barack Obama is not ready to be president."
Well, it's not just in print right now that the McCain campaign is coming out with criticism of Joe Biden. They're putting out an ad. This is the first shot they're taking at the Obama/Biden ticket. A new TV ad we're just getting in that the McCain campaign brought to us this morning. Check this one out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: What does Barack Obama's running mate say about Barack Obama?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: You were asked if he's ready. You said, I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.
BIDEN: I think that I stand by the statement.
NARRATOR: And what does he say about John McCain?
BIDEN: I would be honored to run with or against John McCain because I think the country would be better off.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm John McCain, and I approved this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well apparently the gloves are off. This is going to be one race. CNN's John King was first with news of Obama's pick around 12:30 Eastern this morning. King spoke about the McCain reaction on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We have the first official reaction from the McCain campaign to Barack Obama's picking of Joe Biden. Let me read you this statement here. "There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing -- that Barack Obama is not ready to be president."
So we've been talking about that all night, the likely theme from the Republicans. And there you have it in the first official reaction from the McCain campaign saying, just look at Joe Biden's own words, he thinks the guy at the top of the ticket is not ready to be president. You're going to hear a lot of that in the next 24 hours and in the next 10 weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well you're definitely going to hear a lot about Biden today, but in fact, there are two big stories that we're following for you this morning. The wait is over, again, Barack Obama picks Joe Biden to be his running mate. We're covering all the angles on that story. It's going to be happening here all day long on CNN, lots of online reaction that we're going to tell you about.
But now, we do have another story to tell you about.
HOLMES: That's Fay. This thing is not going away. Making history, actually, this morning in Florida. Our Reynolds Wolf is in the severe weather center keeping. He is keeping an eye on all things Fay related this morning. There he is. We'll talk to him up next with the forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, it is the breaking news story of the morning, and perhaps the day, even the weekend, in fact. Barack Obama picked Delaware senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. Obama and Biden will appear together at a rally in Springfield, Illinois. That is going to happen at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN will take you there live.
Right now, we want to take you live to Wilmington, Delaware. We have a shot outside of Biden's home there. You can see all the reporters and photographers who have gathered around. And just a few minutes ago, a vehicle moved into that driveway there. And as we understand, he is going to be making his way to Springfield, Illinois, a little bit later today. But it appears that some sort of a motorcade has already arrived there.
Of course, we're going to keep a watch on this. We've been staking it out over the night and we will continue to do so throughout the day and bring you the latest. That again from Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Now let's give you some information about Joe Biden. He of course is the U.S. senator from Delaware. He is 65-years-old. He was elected to the Senate in 1972, so he has 35 years of experience. And that's important to the Obama campaign. He's chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He is going to address the Democratic Convention Wednesday night. That is going to be a big event there for them. And as you know, he ran for president this year, but he also ran in 1988.
So Biden, the vice presidential pick for Senator Barack Obama. And we're going to hear from both of them today at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Poor guy. You wonder if he's thinking, I didn't sign up for this, you know? His home being staked out and whatnot.
NGUYEN: Oh, I think he's well aware.
HOLMES: He knew it was coming.
Well, he is the pick. It was really intense speculation, a lot of guess, really, for days about this thing.
NGUYEN: A lot of names.
HOLMES: Yes, a few names after the short list, as they call it. We were staking out everybody --
NGUYEN: Everybody's house.
So who did you think the person would be? Well, we now know, but our Josh Levs has been sifting through some of the opinions that we received over the past week.
And I'm sure a lot of people not surprised by this, but others had their eye on other people as well.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no kidding. You're right, a lot of people not surprised.
Let me start off asking you guys something. So he drummed up all this support at his Web site. He got tens of thousands of people to sign up, saying you'll be the first to know -- get that text or e- mail. But if you send out the text at 3:00 in the morning, when we're the only ones awake, are you really the first to know?
HOLMES: No -- and John King -- you know what? Let's just -- everybody is upset. Just blame John King for being --
LEVS: We're grateful for that.
NGUYEN: We got the news first. You didn't have to wait until 3:00 a.m., because we had it here just after midnight.
LEVS: But that's the thing. We had it here before. In fact, I was going to show you guys that someone wrote in to our CNN Political Ticker. Let me see if we can -- well you can barely see it. But someone wrote to us, "Still waiting for that text, thought I would be the first to know. Thanks a lot, Obama."
That's after our John King broke it. But we're psyched he did, another reason you should be coming to CNN and CNN.com.
So as Betty and T.J. were just telling you, throughout this past week we got so many responses from people weighing in on who the VP should be. I want to start off with this i-Report for you, someone who pushed for Biden. This is from Nick Parsons. Take a look for this.
"If Obama knows what is good for him, the party, and America, he'll place his bet on Joe Biden. Biden has the foreign policy experience that Obama sorely lacks, and his knowledge of the energy crisis is second to none. He's tough and has the wisdom to consider consequences before decisions are made."
But I looked through these, and I saw a lot of people pushing for Evan Bayh. Seemed to be a lot of them. I'm going to show you this just as an example, because this one also talked about Biden along the way. This from Matt in New York, New York.
He says, "Hillary -- too divisive, aggressive. Biden -- great experience, but a major loose cannon." -- We're going to be hearing more about that. "Kaine -- no experience. Bayh -- here we go. Snag Indiana, or at least make McCain work for it." And then he went on to say that Bayh's "charisma is there without outdoing Obama. He is Obama's Al Gore. Bayh is the guy."
So in the end, Bayh is not the guy. It is Biden. You have a chance to weigh in throughout this morning. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on what you write to us. We're going to share your responses throughout the morning. You can go to ireport.com, weigh in on the choice of Biden. But we're also presenting this question to you right now -- let's give you this graphic for it so we can drill it down.
Oh, we don't have it? OK, it's not ready.
I'll just tell you what it is. The question is this -- What do you think of the way Barack Obama handled the announcement? All you need to do is go to weekends@cnn.com. In the meantime, to get all the details while you're watching us this morning, stay with us, also go over here to CNN.com and we've got all the details for you. And again, the question to you -- weekends@cnn.com -- let us know what you think of how Barack Obama handled this VP announcement. And guys, we will share those responses throughout the morning.
NGUYEN: And why was it at 3:00 a.m.? Does that harken back to the Hillary Clinton ad?
LEVS: That's what I was thinking, too. Oh and, OK -- first of all, yes, it's the 3:00 a.m. e-mail, instead of a 3:00 a.m. phone call. Plus, our executive producer, Margie (ph), got the text and she didn't sign up for it, and it was her personal cell phone and she has no idea how they got that number. So I want to know if that happened to anybody else too.
NGUYEN: Uh-oh.
HOLMES: The Obama campaign -- they are telemarketers.
LEVS: How does that happen?
NGUYEN: Apparently they have your number.
All right. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: Bye.
NGUYEN: Well there, of course, is much more on this breaking news today. The Obama/Biden ticket -- we're going to have that throughout the morning.
HOLMES: Also, though, we've got to keep an eye on Tropical Storm Fay, which is actually making history. We'll explain that. Our Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on this storm for us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Keeping an eye out for Obama/Biden '08 bumper stickers coming your way. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware has now been tapped as the running mate for Senator Barack Obama. Let's show him what he gets as a consolation prize here. Live picture outside of his home today in Wilmington, Delaware. A live picture of --
NGUYEN: The media.
HOLMES: -- the media.
NGUYEN: Staking him out.
HOLMES: Yes, these people were not invited there this morning. But these are reporters who have been collected there overnight waiting for some kind of movement to see if he is going to actually leave his home and head to Springfield, Illinois, where there's going to be a rally today, the first Obama/Biden rally. But we've seen several cars go in there in the past couple of hours. Looks like possibly a motorcade going in there.
So, I'm sure when that happens, we will be right there and we'll bring you that picture when it does happen, of Senator Joe Biden heading to the airport and possibly heading to Springfield, where we will see the first Obama/Biden rally of '08.
NGUYEN: Live at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, so don't miss it.
But in the meantime, there is another big story that we are following for you, and that is Tropical Storm Fay, striking once again. What, for the sixth time now hitting?
HOLMES: Yes, this doesn't sound -- now Reynolds, we're going to bring you in here. Now, to say it has made landfall six times, (INAUDIBLE) -- it made a right then made a left, it's coming back. It just doesn't want to go away. Is it normal?
NGUYEN: I hope not.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST Yes, the way it's been twisting around, kind of like me when I was trying to get my learner's permit when I was 15. Same kind of way.
Right now the storm has made -- let's see -- two different landfalls in Cuba. It made one landfall in the Florida Keys, the second one in Florida's western coast. Then you have a fifth right here near Jacksonville, just south of Jacksonville. Now it's going to be making another one right near Apalachicola, maybe even a seventh into parts of Say Pardiokee, (ph), Florida. So it's possible the storm could have seven different landfalls.
Let's show you what it looks like around the state. High about you can see obviously some heavy rainfall just to the west of Jacksonville, right along parts of the I-10 corridor. In Jacksonville, we have a live camera for you. Let's bring you that. WJXT -- doesn't show much. Dark skies, not going to get a whole lot brighter, obviously, later on today because of the cloudy skies.
As we head a little bit farther to the south in Jacksonville -- or not from Jacksonville, but rather Orlando. Here is the latest we have there. A lit bit of rain there, but now much of it is moving off to the west.
Let's go right back to the weather computer. You can see the flood watches and warnings that are in effect for a good part of the area. Not just parts of Florida, but also into Georgia, into Alabama, into Mississippi now. One great thing about that is obviously no one wants to deal with the problems of flooding, but we need that rainfall in parts of the southeast. So there is a good side to it. Problem is, though, too much of anything is seldom good. And that's going to be the story.
In Melbourne you see these record rainfall totals for Melbourne, Florida, South Perdue (ph), Sebastian, back to Viera, well in excess of 20 inches in many locations. That definitely could happen again today. Heaviest rainfall falling again right along parts of the I-10 corridor, just to the east of Tallahassee. Everything going to the west and doing so at a fairly quick rate for storms. Moving westward around 7 miles per hour. Winds of 45 miles an hour, but there have been stronger gusts to 60. This is what I was talking about -- the possible sixth landfall. Once it crosses Apalachicola Bay, then right near Destin and then near possibly Perdido Key, Florida. The notice the storm, as you go from Sunday into Monday, goes just to the north of Louisiana -- rather, north of -- let's see, New Orleans near Baton Rouge, not far from Tiger Stadium and campus of LSU.
Then notice the storm making a quick turn to the north. And by the time we get to Thursday, you see (ph) going from, say, 24 to 48 to 72 hours, very little movement. So we could see a lot of rainfall in this part of the world, possibly some flooding, I'd say, in Mississippi. Looks like it's going to happen next week.
That is the latest we have for you. We've got plenty to share with you throughout the morning, throughout the rest of the day, and of course we've got the politics for you. Full plate, I think, is a good way to describe it.
NGUYEN: All right here on CNN. That's what we do, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: Thanks.
And back to our top story, which we will have an eye on all morning. If you are just waking up or maybe you were woken up by a text message around 3:00 in the morning from the Obama campaign telling you that the Democratic ticket is set.
NGUYEN: Yes, Barack Obama picks Joe Biden to be his running mate and the text message went out just a few hours ago, like we said around 3:00 a.m. Eastern time.
So, what does Biden bring to the ticket? We're going to ask our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody, on this busy Saturday morning.
Did you get your text message? We did.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you could be here with us this morning.
NGUYEN: So back to that text message. It's the breaking political news of the morning. Live pictures now from Delaware where Senator Joe Biden is now Barack Obama's vice presidential pick. The two will appear for the first time as running mates at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, this afternoon. You will see that on CNN. Right now, though, you're looking at a pictures right outside of Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware, where reporters and photographers have been staked out all night long. We have seen several vehicles go into that driveway. We understand a motorcade is being set up there, and it will eventually transport Biden to some kind of an airport where he will get on a plane and head to Springfield, Illinois. And of course, that appearance with both Biden and Obama will take place at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. You will see it right here, live on CNN.
HOLMES: Other major story we're following this morning, the hits just keep on coming with this thing. Tropical Storm Fay making landfall for a sixth time, certainly battering the state of Florida right now. It's the first time in recorded history that a storm has so intensely pounded the coastline. At least six people now have died as a result of the tropical storm in the past week. Our Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on that for us.
NGUYEN: Let's get back to the news of the day, the Obama pick of Joe Biden as his running mate, coming in a text message just after 3:00 a.m. Eastern. It confirmed what Democratic sources had been telling CNN. The text, I want to quote here, says, "Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama/Biden rally live at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Spread the word."
HOLMES: He is, in fact, a high powered senator, but now how does Biden help Barack Obama win over voters? Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, runs down Biden's political resume.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What does Joe Biden bring to the ticket? The ability to speak knowledgeably about issues like these --
BIDEN: What's going on in Pakistan this very moment as I speak to you, what's going on in the subcontinent, overall, the Korean peninsula, China, Hugo Chavez rewriting the Constitution to make himself leader for life, and the de-Democratization of Latin America. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a great deal at stake.
SCHNEIDER: Biden's the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's been in the Senate for 36 years. He knows Washington, he knows the world. Two areas where Barack Obama's credentials are a little weak. And, he's from Delaware. Delaware? Just three electoral votes, pretty reliably Democratic.
How does Biden help Obama politically?
Biden is a Catholic, and Catholics are swing voters. He has roots in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is a swing state, one that Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden can immediately put to rest any fears people might have about Barack Obama's lack of foreign policy experience. Also, he can really appeal to these working class, white voters in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and even Michigan.
SCHNEIDER: Biden talks a great deal. Sometimes saying things he shouldn't say.
BIDEN: You've got the first sort of mainstream African-American, who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden can be long-winded. And in the past he has had to go back and apologize for some of the statements that he has made.
SCHNEIDER: Can Biden control his tendency to say too much? He's certainly trying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An editorial in the "Los Angeles Times" said, in addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine. Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?
BIDEN: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. We want to go now live to Denver. Our Bill Schneider, who put that piece together for us, there -- he is there in Denver for the upcoming Democratic Convention that opens on Monday. We're hoping to see Bill's smiling face this morning, but had to go through a security sweep, hasn't been able to make it quite to the camera just yet.
But that's all right. We've got Bill on the phone.
Bill, thank you for being here with us. Of course, there are going to be ups and downs, pros and cons to anybody that these -- that McCain and Obama choose. So let's talk about the downside, I suppose. Already the McCain camp is hitting and hitting pretty hard about what has come out of Biden's mouth about Senator Barack Obama.
SCHNEIDER: Well, he has been critical of Obama. He was a competitor to Obama. He also ran for the presidency this year, was in many of the debates. And you know, he's criticized Obama's lack of experience and knowledge of the world.
But here he is on the ticket so he can say, well, you know, I'm on the ticket now and I can supply that knowledge and experience. That's why he's on the ticket.
HOLMES: And he is certainly -- not necessarily put on the ticket to deliver a state, we're talking -- this is Delaware, a small state if you will, just I think three electoral votes.
But does it also cause a bit of an issue for Obama in that, you know, it looks like he's making an admission here that he is lacking in foreign policy chops because he had to pick somebody who does have that foreign policy background? SCHNEIDER: And this is a surprise? Of course he's lacking in foreign policy experience; he's young. He hasn't been in Washington very long. Everybody knows that that is an area where he's weak.
In some ways it's like -- I don't want to push this comparison too far, but it's like the reason why President Bush chose Vice President Cheney back in 2000, because he lacked the experience in the world, the experience in foreign policy. I'm not saying that Joe Biden will be Dick Cheney for goodness sakes. But, I do think that there's a similar reasoning going on.
Joe Biden is very much an experienced Washington figure. He is reassuring to a lot of voters who worry that Barack Obama has not been around that long.
HOLMES: Does it also cause any issues for Barack Obama who has run on this entire theme of change, away from Washington, no more Washington insiders. And now here he has a 35-plus year veteran on his ticket?
SCHNEIDER: It certainly doesn't create a message of change, but I don't think Biden will conflict with that because he's talked about the need to change from the record of the Bush administration and the world, to restore America's respect in the world. The fact that he's 65-years-old, which he happens to be, doesn't mean that he can't be in favor of pretty dramatic changes in the way the United States relates to the rest of the world. And remember, he is -- he's had two of the most important jobs in Washington. He was once, for a period of time, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he's now Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
I think the word to use about Biden is reassuring. He reassures a lot of voters who worry about Senator Obama's inexperience in national and world affairs.
HOLMES: You talk about reassuring, are there any reassurances that the Obama campaign has gotten that you know Obama will -- excuse me that Biden will watch his mouth if you will? He has had this reputation for, you know, not mincing words and saying what's on his mind, and sometimes that leads to embarrassing moments every now and then. Any concerns out there that he's going to say something out there that will be embarrassing?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, there are some concerns out there, but I think that Biden will be very, very cautious, very careful. This a role, of course, always a difficult role to play because politicians have their own ambitions. Joe ran for president this year. So he clearly has an awful lot to say about a lot of things. But now he's is the No. 2 man on the ticket. But look, if Lyndon Johnson could do it and he was one of the most outspoken and independent senators way back in 1960, if he could play the No. 2 guy, I think Joe Biden can do it, too.
HOLMES: All right. Our Bill Schneider for us in Denver. We hope to see that face of yours on TV shortly. We know you're going through that security sweep out there. We appreciate you getting up and being with us this morning. We'll check in with you again. SCHNEIDER: Sure, T.J.
NGUYEN: Well John McCain's campaign reacted very quickly to word Joe Biden would be Barack Obama's running mate saying this, "There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama's poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing -- that Barack Obama is not ready to be president" -- end quote.
Again, that reaction coming from the McCain campaign.
So what does Joe Biden bring to the Obama campaign? We learned a little bit about that from Bill Schneider just moments ago. But Democratic strategist, Paul Begala, gave his opinion in a phone call to CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE."
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VOICE OF PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Joe Biden is going to have to be the attack dog, but not a snarling one, kind of a smiling one. I think he's got that ability. If Barack Obama is going to win, and I think he can, I think he will, it's going to take a relentless negative attack linking John McCain to George W. Bush. In part because of those things Reed (ph) was talking about, because there's some real prejudice in America. Tragically, there are still some people, no matter how able a candidate is, they may vote against him if he doesn't look like them. Well I think Biden can help a lot by, first, reassuring, but even more important, by putting Bush and McCain on trial and making them the status quo, showing that Barack Obama is change. That's what I think we'll see Joe doing for the next couple of months.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, Internet search engines no doubt in high gear this morning as voters look online for more information about Obama running mate Joe Biden.
HOLMES: Our Josh Levs is here now to pass along some Web sites that have some info on this Delaware senator.
Good morning to you again, Josh.
LEVS: Yes, you got it. We're going to start off with what we have on CNN.com. I know a lot of people waking up this morning, OK, he chose Biden, what is his strategy, what does he gain, what does he lose and who did he give up?
Well, there is a really good way to see that on CNN.com. I went phishing and found what we are laying out for you -- basically who the top contenders are and pros and cons for all of them, why he may have decided this way.
Let's go in on the board. I'm going to start off with Joe Biden right here, since this is what we're hearing about the most. Let's close way in on it, and I'll talk to you through some of the basics. Here's what we're hearing here. Obviously, as we're going to hear a lot, the big pros for Joe Biden here is that he has all this the foreign relations experience, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And we were already telling you some of these cons. You hear a lot about change in this election. He's a 36-year veteran, also he does wander of script a lot.
Let's go over to Evan Bayh. I was talking to you about him a little bit earlier. Now, the pros for him, again, he's got foreign relations experience. He's in the Senate Intel and Armed Services Committee. And he is really respected in that sense. Also, he was a big Hillary Clinton surrogate. Could be some unity there.
But against him, this was interesting. You had some liberals who had a hard time with one abortion bill that he supported. Also, he originally supported the war in Iraq. And that's a real tricky one for him.
Let's jump over to Bill Richardson. A lot of Internet traffic, including today. Some people said, why didn't he go with Bill Richardson? I was hoping he would. This is what we've been telling you about Bill Richardson, again, you've got the foreign relations experience. He's ambassador to the U.N. for many years. Has that.
But against him, some people, I find this really interesting, were questioning whether enough Americans would be comfortable with a ticket that was the first African-American and first Latino at the same time. Also, there's the question of why he waited so long to endorse Barack Obama. Three of the big ones there.
Of course we're also hearing from some people --
NGUYEN: Josh, we're going to have to interrupt you just a minute because take a look at these live pictures now from Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware. We're seeing some movement outside that area there where you see the reporters and photographers standing. You can see a police vehicle that is backing up. One has already left the driveway. We believe a motorcade is being formed that will escort Biden eventually to a plane that will take him on to Springfield, Illinois, where at 3:00 p.m. today, Eastern time, he will join Senator Barack Obama in this joint statement. They're going to have an appearance there in Springfield. It's also the place where Obama really launched his campaign. So there's a lot of significance to that today.
But again, what we're watching today is some movement outside Senator Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware. As we get more information on that we'll bring it straight to you.
HOLMES: We'll keep that live picture up and let you all take a peek while we're taking a peek at this live picture of what's happening there.
But we'll continue with you, Josh, go ahead where you left off there. LEVS: Well, no it's just interesting -- we're seeing, first of all, I think it's great how we're jumping all over everything that happens outside his house. At some point he has to make that trip to Springfield, and we are all staying to want to know when he knew that he was going to be making that trip.
Am I on this one? Pick a camera. OK.
Let's go back in on this. I want to show you one more thing. We're hearing a lot of people, including this morning, some of you up really early, saying that they're upset that Hillary Clinton was not chosen. We're hearing that from a lot of people. I'm going to go to one over here which is in our i-Report system, David Dunmeyer (ph), who has been writing to us a few times and said, you know what? I think that if she is not chosen, I'm probably not going to even support the Democrats at all this year. This is his picture that he sent us. David Dunmeyer saying, "Hillary is the only choice, it's the only way ultimately to win."
So obviously, guys, we're getting the results on all fronts here. and we have a question for you. We couldn't show it to you earlier, let's see if we have it for you. The question we want to toss at you is this -- What do you think about how Obama handled the VP announcement?
Think about the drum-up to it today, the time that it went out, the text, the fact that we managed to break it first, our John King. Write to us, weekends@CNN.com. And throughout this morning we're going to be bringing you your responses on both fronts -- who should have won this thing, and who should have gotten the second billing, I should say, and also how the Obama campaign handled the announcement -- weekends@CNN.com.
We're piecing through all of it, we'll bring to it you right here. There you go. What a morning.
NGUYEN: Busy one, definitely as we take a look at that picture outside of Joe Biden's house.
LEVS: I love today.
HOLMES: Yes, and the announcement came in a text message at 3:00 a.m. Eastern time. So if -- maybe folks out on the West coast were still up, midnight out there, maybe they got it, most folks were sleeping when those cell phones started to buzz.
We will keep an eye here, seeing a couple of vehicle goes in, seeing a couple of vehicles leave. But we can assume that Biden is still there because we see reporters still there right now, keeping an eye on this scene.
But again, a lot of you may still be just waking up. Maybe you haven't checked that phone of yours yet. But we can tell you that Barack Obama has picked Joe Biden to be his running mate. A whole lot more coverage on this this morning. And there you see the Web site. That's where part of the announcement was made as well, just a quick couple of sentences saying, in fact, that Joe Biden was officially the running mate. We're all over this story this morning.
NGUYEN: We're also following another big story for you, and that is keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Fay. More rain, more flooding this morning. Reynolds Wolf is tracking the storm and he is up next with your forecast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK. If you're just waking up, it's the breaking news story of the morning. Barack Obama picked Delaware senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. Obama and Biden will appear together at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. And of course, CNN will take you there live.
So let's give you a little more information about Joe Biden as we are learning he is going to be on the ticket. He is a U.S. senator from Delaware, of course, 65-years-old, elected to the Senate in 1972. So he has about 35 years of experience. Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, that's very important to Barack Obama's campaign.
He will also address the Democratic Convention Wednesday night. And as you know, he ran for president this year, but he dropped out of the race after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. But he also ran back in 1988. And looks like he will, indeed, be the vice presidential pick for Senator Obama's campaign.
So, Senator Joe Biden is a seasoned veteran as we just laid out for you, especially on foreign policy and defense issues. He's also a former contender for the presidency. And during his own run, Biden bashed Obama's inexperience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You were asked, is he ready. You said, I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.
BIDEN: I think that he stand by that statement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And of course, we will talk to senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, who is in Denver. In fact, he is going through a security sweep right now so we can't get him up live. But we'll talk to him shortly, within the next hour.
HOLMES: All right. Another big story we're watching today, seems like we've been watching this thing forever, Reynolds. Fay just won't go away.
WOLF: I know. This is just absurd, isn't it?
We're talking about potentially getting a sixth or seventh landfall with this storm right now. Winds at 45 -- some gusts have been a bit stronger, up to 60 miles an hour. The storm has dumped plenty of rainfall across parts of central and north Florida, some locations there were 20 inches of rain. Not only that, people were without power in many spots, including -- let's just take a look at this i-Report. This is a great story for you.
This was sent in Randy Lathrop. Let's go right to it if we can, show you the i-Report. And listen to some of the sound.
Not cool, is it? What you're seeing is a power line that has actually dropped from when the power -- actually one of the power poles into one of the flooded areas. And you see those fireballs. Randy Lathrop from Brevard County Florida was told that the power company -- or rather the fire department -- made them leave their home after this, which, Randy, not a bad idea. When you have high voltage situation like that, probably a good idea to evacuate. He's been without power for about 30 hours. Hoping that they will get the power back on relatively soon.
That's the story that many people are dealing with this morning in Florida as they wake up. Many people still listening to us through satellite radio. And as they do so, let me tell you, you've got plenty of flood watches and warnings scattered throughout the southeast. Good in one way because you're desperate for the rainfall, but you don't want the inconvenience. Still, the storm is going to inconvenience many more people as it marches its way to the west, doing so around 7 miles per hour.
Heaviest rainfall now near Tallahassee. We're going to see more of the heavy rainfall into Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, even Thursday, as this storm almost makes an L-shaped path going right over parts of the crescent city of New Orleans on Monday. It then makes a quick turn to the right, going up into parts of Mississippi. We're going to see some flash flooding there, no doubt, over the next couple of days.
Not a lot of land really to cover, really, a short distance, all things considered, with a storm of this size, this magnitude producing all this rainfall, that moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. It's going to be a big mess for many people.
You can already see some of the outer bands affecting places like Montgomery, Alabama, and as far north as Huntsville. Even if you happen to be tuning in from Nashville or points southward, right along parts of I-65, you can actually see some rain drops coming in all due to the storm and some spotty showers as far south as Alligator Alley (ph) on I-75.
It is an active time of the year for us. It is -- we're in the middle of tropical -- of hurricane season. Watch these tropical; storms and systems. So no doubt, we've got more that we're going to be dealing with in the days and months to come.
That is the latest we've got for you. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. You're staying on top of it and so are we. Thank you.
WOLF: Yes, guys.
HOLMES: All right. Well, have you heard? Barack Obama made up his mind and he made it official now.
NGUYEN: Yes, he did. 3:00 a.m., did you get it? The text message? Well, his choice is Senator Joe Biden. So, what are Democrats saying about it? What's John McCain saying? And what do experts think?
Well, we have all the angles covered for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Obama/Biden '08. That's the ticket now. Senator Joe Biden has been tapped, the senator from Delaware, as the vice presidential running mate of Senator Barack Obama. Right now we're keeping an eye on his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where we expect him to be shoveled away in a motorcade in a short time from now where he will be taken to Springfield, Illinois, for his first rally with Obama. That rally happening around 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, 2:00 Central time, there in Springfield, Illinois. But again, made official this morning by Senator Barack Obama, broken overnight, however, by our John King who had the news first that Biden would be the pick.
But all those text messages and e-mails finally went out to all the Obama supporters around 3:00 a.m. Eastern time telling them that Biden had been the pick. Senator Joe Biden actually dropped out of this year's Democratic primary campaign after the Iowa caucuses. We have a clip now from an Iowa forum where Biden was responding to a question about race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLYN WASHBURN, EDITOR, "THE DES MOINES REGISTER": Senator Biden, you and your campaign have had a number of occasions to correct or clarify things you said relating to race, including your remarks about Senator Obama being, quote, "clean and articulate," your comment about Indians working at 7-Eleven, and recently to the "Washington Post" in which you spoke about race while describing disparities between schools in Washington, D.C. and Iowa.
Do these gaffes or misunderstandings, or however you would characterize them, indicate you're uncomfortable talking about race, or are people being too sensitive?
BIDEN: I think that I have my whole career -- I got involved in public policy, I got involved in politics because of the civil rights movement. It's the overwhelming core of my support in my home state. I get the overwhelming majority, over 95 percent of the vote of minorities in my state. I may have phrased those things wrongly, but when I talked about the Indian population, what I was making the point was, they're building families, they're coming by and buying businesses, 7-Elevens and Dunkin' Donuts and small shops just like those Italian immigrants used to do and they're building families. The point I was making about the inner city Washington is the point that Barack just made. Barack made the point -- he said that minorities start off at a disadvantage, they start off with a gap, an achievement gap, that exists before they walk into school, minorities.
And so I was making the same point. It may be possible because I speak so bluntly that people misunderstand, but no one who knows me in my state, no one who I've worked with in the United States Congress, has ever wondered about my commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. And if you take a look at my record as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee -- excuse me, of the Judiciary Committee, ranking member, chairman for 16 years, starting with the voting rights act and worked his way through to voting against constitutional amendments on bussing when busing was taking place in my state. My credentials are as good as anyone who has ever run for president of the United States on civil rights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here, here.
WASHBURN: Senator Obama --
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: I just wanted to -- I just want to make the comment -- I've worked with Joe Biden. I've seen his leadership. I have absolutely no doubt about what is in his heart and the commitment that he's made with respect to racial equality in this country. So, I will provide some testimony, as they say in church, that Joe is on the right side of the issues and is fighting every day for a better America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
