Biden And The Oldtimers. One of my friends (62 y.o.,) who supported McCain, just switched to Obama. He had liked Biden and Hillary. It turns out that he isn't the only one. Biden appeals to the older voters. Ummmmmmm, we're progressives too. In any event, Jonathan Cohn said it best.

One other, perhaps less appreciated, virtue of the Biden choice is what it says about Obama philosophically. Biden can be counted upon to play the role of house dissenter and skeptic. But he does so as somebody whose fealty to the basic values of the Democratic Party is not in doubt. On a wide range of issues, from economics to the courts to national security, Biden has compiled a record that would please the majority of progressives. His rating from Americans for Democratic Action is a perfect 100, just like Obama's. He scores well among other liberal groups, too.

Conservatives will blast this record, just as surely as liberals will (or should) celebrate it. But one of the virtues of having Biden as the vice presidential nominee is that he won't take those kinds of attacks lightly. He'll fight back. He'll remind people, rightly, that being a liberal Democrat means raising the minimum wage, making sure everybody has affordable health care, providing strong public schools, and protecting human rights. Then, he'll ask why conservative Republicans don't want the same things. That's exactly the kind of political debate this country needs. By picking Biden as a running mate, Obama has signaled that he welcomes this argument--and intends, finally, to win it.

The way I see it, not everyone was, I repeat, was on the bandwagon. They were waiting for the VP pick. Not just the oldtimers either. Biden is a reassuring pick, and at the same time an aggressive pick. Obama passed his first major test. This was one masterful Veepmas.  ¶ 12:40 AM