Newly announced vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden stopped for some small talk and pulled-pork sandwiches Monday afternoon at Boney’s Smokehouse, just off Denver’s 16th Street Mall.
Flanked by his wife, children and brother, the veteran Delaware senator greeted hundreds of cheering onlookers on the brief stop, his first appearance of the Democratic National Convention.
He and his family gathered at the Pepsi Center on Monday night to hear potential first lady Michelle Obama’s prime-time speech.
Outside the barbecue stand, educator Gail Northcutt of Detroit pushed her way through a crowd of clamoring reporters to speak briefly with Biden’s wife, Jill, who promised: “We’re going to change education.”
Beyond that, remarks were few, napkins many at the highly orchestrated lunch stop.
Biden is expected to attract white, working-class voters who were drawn to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primary. And Barack Obama’s campaign touts his decades of service, including his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as a way to fill in gaps in his record.
Sporting a “Women for Obama” button, New Hampshire resident Ann Kuster said Biden’s blue-collar credentials will unite Democrats.
“This is what it’s about. This is the American story,” said Kuster, brandishing an Obama bag signed by Biden. “Women voters get that.”
“We consider him our third senator in Pennsylvania,” said Michele Bortner of York, Pa. “I think he’ll be good for the Obama ticket.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Biden memoir resurrected
Sen. Joe Biden’s memoir, an instant best seller for the presumed vice-presidential nominee, is being reissued in paperback with a first printing of 100,000. The Random House Publishing Group released “Promises to Keep” in hardcover a year ago. After a brief appearance on The New York Times’ best-seller list, the book quickly faded. The Associated Press
