The Trail

Joe Biden, a leading Obama running-mate contender, talks to reporters outside his Delaware home. (By Bradley C. Bower -- Associated Press)

-- Matthew Mosk and Sarah Cohen

WAR HITS HOME FOR VP PROSPECT

Biden's Son Headed to Iraq

As Barack Obama closes in on his running-mate pick, one prospect with clear momentum is Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Even troubling personal news for the Delaware Democrat has added a compelling twist to his case. On Oct. 3, Biden's son Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III, 39, will be deployed to Iraq.

"I don't want him going," Biden told an Iowa State Fair crowd a year ago, when, as a presidential candidate himself, he learned that his son's unit would be deployed at some point in 2008. "But I don't want my grandsons or granddaughters going back in 15 years. So how we leave makes a big difference."

Beau Biden is the Delaware attorney general and a captain in the Army National Guard. He is the older of Biden's two sons with his first wife, Neilia. She was killed in a car accident, along with the couple's 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, shortly after Biden was elected to his first Senate term.

Beau and brother Hunter, both toddlers then, were seriously injured in the crash, and Biden was sworn in at their hospital bedside. Every night through six Senate terms, he has returned to Wilmington, Del., on Amtrak.

The deployment raises an interesting question: What will become of Biden's Senate seat if he gets the veep nod and Obama wins the election? Delaware political observers have long presumed that Beau hoped to succeed his father.

The senator, who is seeking a seventh term this year, can remain on the November Senate ballot, according to state election law. If Biden wins both races, he can take the Senate oath and then resign. The Democratic governor, Ruth Ann Minner, would then appoint a replacement who would serve until the next general election in 2010.

-- Shailagh Murray