Experience Is Double-Edged Sword for The Ticket

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. greets well-wishers as he holds his granddaughter Natalie Biden after Sunday services at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Greenville, Del. (By Pat Crowe Ii -- Associated Press)

But in Biden's closing remarks before the war vote in 2002, he also voiced a remarkable degree of trust in Bush. "The president has argued that confronting Iraq would not detract from the unfinished war against terrorism. I believe he is right. We should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time," he said. ". . . I am absolutely confident the president will not take us to war alone. I am absolutely confident we will enhance his ability to get the world to be with us by us voting for this resolution."

In the end, Biden and McCain both voted for war.

"The American people are strong, they are bright, and they are willing to take this on," Biden declared on Oct. 9, 2002.

The war issue points up both the advantage and the problem of having a foreign policy veteran on the ticket. Biden's lengthy record does not lend itself to the easy dichotomy set up in the campaign thus far, between the man who cheered on the war long before it started and the candidate who opposed it from the beginning. Indeed, Biden's relationship with McCain is far more complicated than that of political adversaries.

From their perches on the leading national security committees, Biden and McCain have shadowboxed across the globe, building reputations as experts in their respective parties on war and peace. Over the years, the two senators have traveled broadly, often returning from war zones to spar with each other on the Sunday morning talk shows. The result was a rivalry -- and a friendship -- built on respect, people in both parties said.

In 2005, Biden told comedian Jon Stewart: "John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend. I would be honored to run with or against John McCain because I think the country would be better off." Asked in 1999 what he would do on the first day of his presidency, McCain said he would "call in Joe Biden and John Kerry and Zbigniew Brzezinski and Carl Levin and like-minded Republicans" for a frank discussion about the need for a bipartisan foreign policy.

"They actually have a long and good relationship," a senior Biden aide said this weekend. "They're friends."

Staff writer Michael D. Shear, traveling with the McCain campaign, contributed to this report.