WASHINGTON (Agencies)
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has chosen his Senate colleague, Joseph Biden, as his vice presidential running mate, US television networks reported early Saturday.
CNN and CBS News cited unnamed Democratic Party sources, but did not offer any details.
Earlier, ABC News said a detail of Secret Service agents had been sent to assume Biden's protection in preparation for his possible new role as an official candidate for high office.
Biden, 65, emerged on top after Obama, according to unidentified sources, broke the news to two other contenders -- Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine -- that they were no longer under consideration.
Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, shortly before he turned 30, the minimum age. A month later, his wife and daughter were killed and two sons injured in a car crash.
Biden considered giving up his Senate seat but party leaders helped persuade him to serve. He remarried 15 years later.
With a liberal to moderate voting record, Biden heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has been outspoken on international affairs. Although he backed the 2002 resolution to authorize the use of force in Iraq, he soon became a strong critic of the war and accused President George W. Bush of mishandling it.
On the campaign stump this week, Obama has singled out Biden for praise over his response to the crisis in Georgia and proposals to extend more U.S. economic aid to Afghanistan. |
