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Sen. Joe Biden said he has more passion for politics today than when he first won the Senate seat in 1972.
Just weeks after the 29-year-old freshman legislator was elected to office, his first wife and daughter were killed in a tragic car accident.
But Democrats propped him up and became his family, he said.
Nearly 30 years later, more than 1,000 Democrats packed a Dover Downs ballroom to hear Biden speak – this time as a U.S. vice presidential nominee.
“We Delawareans think of the Democratic Party, it sounds corny, but we’re like family,” Biden said.
Biden, who many say is Delaware’s favorite native son, returned to his early supporters on Monday, Oct. 13, for the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner to honor Democratic volunteers.
On Election Day, Delaware residents will find themselves in an unusual situation when they hit the voting booths.
Biden is on the ballot twice: for vice president of the United States and for U.S. senator.
Getting back up
Biden said Delaware’s challenges are the same as the nation’s: a sluggish economy, high gas prices, health insurance coverage gaps and difficulty making ends meet.
“Today, I started out in Dover, New Hampshire, and I conclude here,” Biden said. He said many Americans are asking themselves, “Will I have a job next month? Can we fill the gas tank – all the way up?”
“I’ve never seen a time when more Americans have been knocked down,” he said.
Biden said he wants mothers and fathers in Seaford to be able to look their children in the eyes and say, “It’s a level playing field.”
From Elsemere to Topeka and Dover, New Hampshire, to Dover, Delaware, Americans are facing tough choices, including affording college for their children and paying for family members’ hospitalization, Biden said. With a Democratic presidency and Biden second in command, he said he would help get the nation back on its feet. He said his father told him it’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up.
Support for local Democrats
Democrats hold seven of the nine statewide offices and they’re only two seats away from gaining control of the state House, which they haven’t done since 1975. They already control the Senate and Biden cheered on local Democrats to take over even more elected offices. “Jack Markell, I think, will truly make a great governor,” he said.
He also referred to two Democrats, who won primaries for statewide office, as The Karens: Karen Hartley-Nagle, who is running for U.S. Congress and Karen Weldin-Stewart, who’s running for insurance commissioner.
“We’re gonna pick up two more seats in the House and Bob Gilligan will be speaker,” he said, referring to the two-seat Republican lead in the state House. Rep. Robert Gilligan, D-Wilmington, was first elected to the House in 1972 and has served as House Minority Leader since 1995.
Biden also said Thurman Adams, Senate president pro tempore, will soon have more support in Dover.
“Thurman, you’ll have additional cushion, not that you’ll need the cushion,” Biden said.
The dinner that Joe built
Guests gathered around tables marked by union signs such as, Letter Carriers for Obama and Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Local 74. They listened to a line of speakers, which included a Who’s Who of Delaware Democrats. More than one elected official referred to the state’s senior senator as Delaware’s own Joe Biden, or simply, Joe.
Lt. Gov. John Carney, who received a standing ovation as he arrived on stage, said, “This is the dinner that Joe built.”
Carney said it’s a historic opportunity for residents to vote for Biden twice.
Markell, who won the Democratic nomination for governor, said he looks forward to working with Delaware’s new senior Sen. Tom Carper and the next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden.
Carper, who introduced Biden, referred to him as Joe Bama, a reference to Sen. Barack Obama.
“Thank God Delaware’s primaries are behind us. Can I get an amen?” Carper said.
Bickering over campaign spending divided the state’s Democratic Party.
“Now, the party is again unified,” he said.
Great time to be a Democrat
Before dinner, local candidates talked about the excitement of being a Democrat in Delaware.
Greg Fuller, running for Sussex County clerk of the peace, said he was honored to be among Democratic elected officials.
“To be in the same place where Joe Biden is? There’s a lot of good, fine Democrats here,” Fuller said.
Hartley-Nagle said 2008 is the year for the state’s female politicians.
“It’s a great time to be a Democrat right now, a profound time in history. I’m going to win,” Hartley-Nagle said. “This year we’re going to see a Democratic Congresswoman. Women are going to come out in amazing numbers.”
Helen Truitt, who is running in the 37th Rep. District, said she’s known Biden since 1972, when he visited her Lewes home to support her husband David Truitt, who ran for local representative.
Before Biden took to the stage, Secretary of State Harriet Smith-Windsor’s voice cracked more than once with emotion whom she called Delaware’s favorite son, Joe Biden. “We ask God, you wrap your arms around him,” she said.
Shelby Nash was nearly in tears following his speech.
Nash, 33, of Dover, is a union steward for the Communications Workers of America. “I’m a huge Joe Biden fan. I am so, so proud of him. I really think it’s refreshing that a politician would call the American public to act,” Nash said.
“You can vote twice for the same guy you like, and it’ll still be legal,” Biden said to a cheering crowd.
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