Biden Offers Foreign Policy Heft, Baggage to Obama Ticket

Several of Barack Obama's potential running mates hit the Sunday talk show circuit yesterday. But Joseph Biden was in Tbilisi at the personal invitation of the Georgian president to discuss the ongoing military crisis. For the New York Times, Biden's weekend trip highlights the clout of the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—but also his status as the consummate Washington insider.

Biden won his first Senate election four decades ago at age 29, and his experience in Washington would balance a ticket headed by a political newcomer. But he supported the Iraq war, and his heft inside the Beltway cuts against Obama's message of change. What's more, Biden is notoriously in love with the sound of his own voice—a tendency that allegedly drives Obama bonkers. (More Barack Obama stories.)