New Data: Impact of Biden
Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate is unlikely to shake-up the presidential horse race. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll completed last night, three-quarters of voters said picking Biden would not sway their votes one way or the other. And about as many said they would be more apt to support Obama with Biden on the ticket as said the choice would make them less likely to vote Democratic on Election Day (13 to 10 percent).
Q. If Obama chooses Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, would that make you more likely to vote for Obama, less likely, or wouldn't it make any difference in your vote?
SOURCE: Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted by telephone Aug. 19-22, 2008 among a random national sample of 916 registered voters. Results have a three point error margin.
Those numbers would reflect prior Post-ABC polls showing at most limited topline changes following vice presidential announcements.
More from the new poll will be available Sunday morning.
By Jon Cohen | August 23, 2008; 8:00 AM ET Post Polls
Previous: More in-tune? Voters Lean Obama |
Donna --
I have some important news that I want to make official.
I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate.
Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois -- the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago.
I'm excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.
Please let Joe know that you're glad he's part of our team. Share your personal welcome note and we'll make sure he gets it:
http://my.barackobama.com/welcomejoe
Thanks for your support,
Barack
P.S. -- Make sure to turn on your TV at 2:00 p.m. Central Time to join us or watch online at http://www.BarackObama.com.
Biography
Joe Biden has represented the state of Delaware in the United States Senate since 1972, when he was elected at the age of twenty-nine. Senator Biden is recognized as a leader in foreign policy, as well as one of the nation's most influential voices on terrorism, drug policy, and crime. Nationally, Senator Biden has earned a reputation for working on a bipartisan basis with Republican colleagues and bringing real results that matter to Americans.
Throughout Senator Biden's career in public service, the people of Delaware have remained his
first priority. From preserving White Clay Creek and miles of Delaware's coastline, to putting hundreds more cops on the state's streets, to fighting to cover healthcare costs for all of Delaware's children, Senator Biden is working to improve the lives of Delawareans.
Senator Biden's legislative initiatives often have an immediate impact in Delaware. For example, Delaware was one of the first states to take advantage of the federal resources made available by Senator Biden's Adam Walsh Act, which helps protect children against predators. And fourteen years after Senator Biden first wrote and passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), its programs are still caring for, training, and providing for victims in Delaware.
Agriculture remains Delaware's biggest industry and Senator Biden is committed to preserving Delaware's farming tradition. He believes that the term "family farm" should never become a Delaware legend.
As the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Biden's top foreign policy priority is bringing home American troops without leaving chaos behind in Iraq. Senator Biden and Les Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, have offered a five-point plan that offers a political solution to ending the war - a plan overwhelming endorsed by his Senate colleagues by a 75-23 vote.
"Senator Biden has a very strong commitment to a bipartisan foreign policy and serves as a good example for everyone in Congress. He has a very broad, comprehensive view of the world. He's a good listener, but he's also a strong and effective advocate of his position."
His leadership was also widely hailed for helping to bring stability and peace to the Balkans. In 1999, Senator Biden authored a Senate-passed resolution endorsing air war in Kosovo. Today, Senator Biden is again leading the Congressional effort to end genocide, this time in Darfur, Sudan.
Senator Biden is committed to taking care of the men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect our country through military service. Ensuring that all veterans have top-notch medical treatment in a fully-funded VA health care system is a key priority.
As a long-standing member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Biden is a strong leader on crime and drug policy and has been instrumental in crafting almost every major piece of crime legislation over the past two decades. His Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 - also known as the Biden Crime Bill - put more than 100,000 cops on America's streets and increased dramatically federal support for innovative criminal justice prevention and rehabilitation. The 2007 Biden Crime Bill goes further by addressing the 21st century crime problems such as computer hacking, on-line child exploitation and teenage prescription drug abuse. As the Co-Chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, Senator Biden was the first in Congress to propose a "Drug Czar," a cabinet level office to coordinate all federal agencies responsible for drug-related programs and devise a strategy to combat illegal drug use and trafficking in America.
One of Senator Biden's longstanding priorities is making college more accessible and affordable for students and their families. Recently, he introduced the College Affordability and Creating Chances for Educational Success for Students (ACCESS) Act which would increase tax incentives, expand Pell grants, and begin college planning as early as the eighth grade.
Over the last thirty-four years, Senator Biden has shown prescience and leadership on the most critical issues facing Delaware and our country. From his instrumental role in passing the bipartisan initiative to create a Commission on Civil Rights in 1983, to introducing the 1986 Global Climate Protection Act, to establishing an annual National Mammography Awareness Day, and to authoring the Rail Security Act of 2007 to regulate the transportation of hazardous materials on American railways, Senator Biden consistently works to tackle America's toughest challenges.
To learn about more of Senator Biden's work, please visit our Issues and Legislation page.
Personal Information
Senator Biden grew up in New Castle County, Delaware. He graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, and from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. Prior to his election to the Senate, Biden practiced law in Wilmington, Delaware and served on the New Castle County Council from 1970 to 1972. Since 1991, Biden has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law. He is a proud graduate of Archmere Academy, class of 1961.
Senator Biden lives in Wilmington, Delaware and commutes to Washington, DC when the Senate is in session. He is married to Dr. Jill Biden, the former Jill Jacobs, an educator in Delaware's schools for over twenty years. She currently is a professor teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. Senator Biden is the father of three children: Beau, Hunter and Ashley. Beau serves as Delaware's Attorney General, Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is a lawyer. The Bidens also have five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel, Natalie, and Robert Hunter.
For more details about Senator Biden, see this timeline.
ACTION: Tell AP To Remove Ron Fournier From the Presidential Beat
By: Jane Hamsher Saturday August 23, 2008 1:45 pm
As recently as last year, Ron Fournier considered working for the McCain campaign. Instead he took a job as Washington bureau chief for the AP, but it looks like he's still working for McCain.
Fournier say in a new AP piece that the Biden choice demonstrates that Obama "lacks confidence," that Biden is the "ultimate insider," and that it threatens to undermine Obama's message of "change." It could've come straight off the fax machine of the McCain press shop, with no need for editing (indeed, the McCain campaign says it loves the Fournier piece). Its sentiments have been echoed all morning across cable news.
But this kind of journalistic opinionating is what Fournier likes to see in his campaign coverage. Earlier this year, Fournier outlined what his vision of new journalism is:
The journalistic ethics of old do not apply to the new guidelines over at the Associated Press. The new ethics are called “accountability journalism,” and the new bureau chief, Ron Fournier, believes that the conventional press model, where both sides of an argument are entitled to equal weight, is exactly what journalists need to avoid.
Fournier believes those old journalistic ethics are what stops reporters from telling the truth as they see it.
In March, Fournier wrote that Obama is "a bit too cocky," and that he and Michelle "ooze a sense of entitlement." I guess that's "how he sees it."
It's simply not acceptable that the head of the AP's Washington bureau, in charge of presidential campaign coverage, sees the AP as little more than an extension of the McCain Campaign's message:
- Steve Benen chronicles the horrible history of GOP propaganda masquerading as news that has constituted the AP's political coverage of this election.
- Eric Boehlert and Media Matters have covered Fournier's cozy relationship with Karl Rove and his encouragement of the "Obama is an elitist" meme.
- Julia has written that Fournier consistently attacks other candidates while promoting McCain.
- Jonathan Singer and John Aravosis have more, as does MoveOn.
It is for these very reasons that Fournier's predecessor (and former mentor) at the AP, Sandy Johnson, expressed her concern by saying "I loved the Washington bureau...I just hope he doesn’t destroy it.”
When the AP's Nedra Pickler acted as a GOP operative we generated over 15,000 letters to the editor at papers that carry the AP wire stories across the country, letting them hear from their own subscribers that this kind of propaganda is not acceptable as campaign coverage.
It's time to crank that tool out again. Ron Fournier must be taken off the Presidential beat. He's got an obvious
conflict-of-interest.
FOURNIER IS AT IT AGAIN.... The latest piece from Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington bureau chief and the man responsible for directing the wire service's coverage of the presidential campaign, on Joe Biden joining the Democratic ticket, is drawing a fair amount of attention this morning. More importantly, McCain campaign staffers are pushing it fairly aggressively to other reporters, in large part because it mirrors the Republican line with minimal variation.
By choosing Biden, Fournier argues, Barack Obama is showing a "lack of confidence," and is siding with "the status quo."
There are two ways to consider Fournier's piece: substantively and in the broader context.
First, on the substance, Fournier's analysis seems a little lazy. By his logic, any potential running mate shows a "lack of confidence" -- picking Hillary would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over women voters; picking Bayh would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over independents and conservative Dems; picking Webb would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over voters concerned about national security; picking Kaine would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over voters in the South; etc. For that matter, "the status quo" in Washington has been conservative Republican rule. Biden may be an old pro and a DC insider, but he's anything but "the status quo."
Second, in context, Fournier's objectivity covering the presidential race continues to look shaky. We are, after all, talking about a journalist who, as recently as last year, considered working for the McCain campaign.
Before Ron Fournier returned to The Associated Press in March 2007, the veteran political reporter had another professional suitor: John McCain's presidential campaign.
In October 2006, the McCain team approached Fournier about joining the fledgling operation, according to a source with knowledge of the talks. In the months that followed, said a source, Fournier spoke about the job possibility with members of McCain's inner circle, including political aides Mark Salter, John Weaver and Rick Davis.
We learned not too long ago that Fournier exchanged emails with Karl Rove about Pat Tillman, in which Fournier wrote, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight." Fournier was also one of the journalists who, at a gathering of the nation's newspaper editors, extended McCain a box of his favorite donuts ("Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" McCain said).
It's led to a series of AP reports that can, at best, be described as "questionable."
In March, for example, Fournier wrote an item -- whether it was a news article or an opinion piece was unclear -- that said Barack Obama is "bordering on arrogance," "a bit too cocky," and that the senator and his wife "ooze a sense of entitlement." To substantiate the criticism, Fournier pointed to ... not a whole lot. It was basically the Republicans' "uppity" talking point in the form of an AP article.
But much of the AP's coverage has deteriorated since. There was a slam-job on Obama that read like an RNC oppo dump, followed by a scathing, 900-word reprimand of Obama's decision to bypass the public financing system in the general election, filled with errors of fact and judgment.
When Obama unveiled his faith-based plan, the AP got the story backwards. When Obama talked about his Iraq policy on July 3, the AP said he'd "opened the door" to reversing course, even though he hadn't.
The AP's David Espo wrote a hagiographic, 1,200-word piece, praising McCain's "singular brand of combative bipartisanship," which was utterly ridiculous.
The AP pushed the objectivity envelope a little further with a mind-numbing, 1,100-word piece on Obama "being shadowed by giant flip-flops."
The AP flubbed the story on McCain joking about killing Iranians, and then flubbed the story about McCain's promise to eliminate the deficit. It's part of a very discouraging trend for the AP that's been ongoing throughout the campaign.
And then, within hours of Obama announcing his running mate, there's Fournier again, writing up another piece -- whether it's a news article or an opinion piece is, again, unclear -- that the McCain campaign just loves.
Sandy Johnson, the former DC bureau chief of the AP, was asked about Fournier and the bureau when she was forced out as part of a staff shake-up. "I just hope he doesn't destroy it," she said.
The more I see the AP's coverage, the more I think about that quote.
—Steve Benen 10:28 AM
Today, the Associated Press (whose articles are published in thousands of newspapers nationwide) wrote a story about Barack Obama's vice presidential pick that sounded more like right-wing FOX than an unbiased news organization. Under the headline "Biden pick shows lack of confidence," the AP wrote:
This isn't an isolated incident for the AP reporter who wrote this story, Ron Fournier--who was recently appointed as the AP's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief. Media watchdog group Media Matters wrote a report showing that Fournier's presidential coverage has consistently smeared Democrats and favored John McCain.2
Can you email AP reporter Ron Fournier and CC his boss, Managing Editor Mike Oreskes? Tell them that the public's faith in the 160-year-old AP will be gone if Ron Fournier is allowed to continue his slanted articles against Democrats and for McCain.
Here are their emails:
Michael Oreskes, AP Managing Editor, mOreskes@ap.org
Ron Fournier, AP reporter and Washington D.C. Bureau Chief, rfournier@ap.org
After you email them, please help us track our progress by reporting your email here:
http://pol.moveon.org/call?cp_id=797&tg=508.532
A congressional investigation recently uncovered an email Fournier sent to Karl Rove in 2004, telling him to "Keep up the fight."3 Plus, it was recently revealed that Fournier talked to top McCain campaign operatives in 2007 about being a senior McCain political adviser!4 Given all this, Fournier has an obligation to the public to show that he's not a partisan McCain supporter.
Headline: "Sen. Hillary Clinton an Artful Dodger" Excerpt: "Slick Hillary? Former President Clinton earned the nickname 'Slick Willy' for his mastery in the political arts of ducking and dodging...His wife may not be as smooth, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is doing a passable impression of the ever-parsing former president."5
Headline: "Obama walks arrogance line" Excerpt: "There's a line smart politicians don't cross--somewhere between "I'm qualified to be president" and "I'm born to be president." Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step. He's bordering on arrogance."6
Headline: "Clinton's Politics of Pity" Excerpt: "Poor Hillary. After trying to save her sinking candidacy with awkward turns of flattery and sarcasm, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton resorted to a new tactic in Tuesday night's debate: self-pity."7
Meanwhile, Media Matters could only find one negative piece Fournier wrote about Republicans during the entire primary--and that was trashing Mitt Romney for beating John McCain in Michigan!8 (Fournier called McCain's loss "a defeat for authenticity in politics" and glowingly called McCain "the man who spoke hard truths." Seriously! That's unbiased journalism?)
Can you email AP reporter Ron Fournier and CC his boss, Managing Editor Mike Oreskes? Tell them that the public's faith in the 160-year-old AP will be gone if Ron Fournier is allowed to continue his slanted articles against Democrats and for McCain.
Here are their emails:
Michael Oreskes, AP Managing Editor, mOreskes@ap.org
Ron Fournier, AP reporter and Washington D.C. Bureau Chief, rfournier@ap.org
http://pol.moveon.org/call?cp_id=797&tg=508.532
Thanks for all you do to hold the media accountable.
–Adam G., Noah, Nita, Justin, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence," Associated Press, August 23, 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080823/ap_on_el_pr/veepstakes_analysis
2. "The AP has a Ron Fournier problem," Media Matters, July 22, 2008
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200807220006
3. "Fournier to Rove: 'Keep Up the Fight," TPM, July 14, 2008
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/fournier_to_rove_keep_up_the_fight.php
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=70AFE0F1-3048-5C12-001A56872008C572
5. "Sen. Hillary Clinton an Artful Dodger," Associated Press, June 20, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062000204.html
6. "Obama walks arrogance line," Associated Press, March 17, 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080317/ap_ca/on_deadline_arrogance
7. "AP Opinion: Clinton's politics of pity," Associated Press, February 27, 2008
http://www.katu.com/news/16028377.html
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