By Fredrick Kunkle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2008

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate, grudgingly offered good marks yesterday to his Republican counterpart for her first major campaign speech, saying on a swing through Northern Virginia that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had given a "heck of a political speech."

But Biden -- who misidentified Palin as "lieutenant governor" -- faulted her and other speakers at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night for resorting to political attacks instead of discussing important issues and offering solutions to problems the country faces.

"I heard a very -- by the way, and I mean that sincerely -- very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska, who I think will be very formidable -- and very formidable not only in the campaign," Biden said. "But I was equally impressed by what I didn't hear."

Biden said Palin's speech neglected to mention such pressing issues as health insurance, rising college tuition or the high cost of gasoline.

By contrast, he said, Democrats hope to focus the campaign on paying for national health insurance, increasing federal grants for college tuition to families earning less than $50,000 a year and creating jobs through billions of dollars in new investments to develop alternative energy and rebuild the nation's infrastructure.

Biden said Republicans cannot explain eight years of "abject failure" in foreign policy. "And they can't explain eight years of economic decline particularly hitting the middle class like a gut punch," he said. "They dug us into a very, very deep hole."

Biden's appearance before a partisan crowd of about 150 people with tickets on the Prince William County campus of George Mason University followed a campaign stop earlier in the day in Virginia Beach, where he focused on national security issues. At the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Biden acknowledged GOP presidential nominee John McCain's heroic military record, but he also said Barack Obama, Biden's running mate, nonetheless demonstrates better judgment on military and foreign policy matters. "Experience only matters if you couple it with judgment," Biden said, according to the Associated Press.

On the George Mason campus, Biden focused on economic issues and what he called the deepening unease felt by America's middle class. Sharing the stage with five Virginians who told of their struggles to stay afloat in an uncertain economy, Biden also said he would address the bread-and-butter issues passed over by Palin and other GOP leaders in their speeches Wednesday night.

"At the Republican convention, I heard a lot of attacks on Barack Obama, and a few on me, and I also heard something else. I heard a lot of traditional -- at least this new Republican Party, the Bush party -- I heard a lot of appeals to division in America," Biden said. "I heard a lot of scare tactics. I heard a lot of things that weren't accurate from some of the speakers about Obama's record."

Saying the GOP was distorting Obama's tax plan, Biden pledged that taxes would fall for everyone except those who make more than $250,000 a year. The typical Virginian would receive a $3,700 tax break under the Democrats' plan, he said.

"I have been struggling to make ends meet, to stay afloat," said Suzanna Foster, a single mother from Lake Ridge. Foster, who works for a title-search company, said the deteriorating real-estate market forced her to switch jobs three times in the past year. She also has had to find work farther from home, driving her commuting bill sky-high. And her health care premiums also went up after her diagnosis of cancer.

Another resident, Cindy Lyon, said a similar experience with her health insurance had all but bankrupted her. "I have one dollar in my wallet," she said.

Members of the audience asked Biden about immigration, teacher pay and health insurance. Sarah McAbee, 26, an Oakton resident who studies and works at George Mason, challenged Biden to explain how Democrats could deliver tax relief while also trimming the deficits, which have grown during the Bush administration, and boosting the sagging dollar.

Biden said, "The tax cut we're proposing is considerably less in terms of dollars than extending or making permanent the president's existing tax cuts, which is what [McCain] is proposing." He said the cost of extending the tax cuts is $1 trillion.

Because the forum focused on economic issues, the war in Iraq came up only a few times in passing. But the applause was loudest whenever Biden mentioned the war and his party's pledge to end it.

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who is a national co-chair for the Obama campaign, introduced Biden and took a few shots at McCain, saying, "We can't afford to put somebody in the White House who says, 'Well, I think there's been a lot of progress, and I don't know much about economics anyway.' That would be risky.''

Kaine said he believes that the Obama-Biden ticket has a good chance at not only winning in November but also carrying Virginia, which has not backed a Democrat for the White House since 1964.

Biden listened as five Virginians told of their troubles coping with the collapse in housing values or with serious medical problems. Biden was loose and relaxed, walking the stage tieless with a microphone. Several times he made wisecracks about his own age -- 65 -- and his long service in the Senate.

"Most of you expected me to come out with a walker," Biden said before pointing out that he although only four senators have more seniority, 44 are older than he is.