Obama picks Senate veteran Biden as his running mate

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has chosen veteran Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, a leading voice on international affairs, as his vice presidential running mate, his campaign said yesterday.Biden, 65, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of the most knowledgeable Democrats on foreign policy - an area where Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, has been criticised as inexperienced.

Ending days of speculation, Obama announced the decision on his website, featuring a photo of the two, and his campaign sent a text message and e-mail to supporters.

"Barack has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate," the announcement said. "Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done."

Biden was to join Obama for their first campaign event later in Springfield, Illinois, the home town of President Abraham Lincoln and the place where Obama launched his White House bid last year.

Biden, a Roman Catholic originally from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, will bring not only foreign policy expertise to the ticket but strong working-class roots.

That could help Obama connect with the blue-collar voters he has failed to attract in the run-up to the November 4 election against Republican John McCain. Obama and McCain are neck and neck in opinion polls.

Biden's 2008 presidential bid fell flat but he was a forceful and aggressive debater, firing off some of the toughest criticisms of Republican President George W. Bush.

The choice of Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, indicates Obama was more interested in filling gaps in his foreign policy experience than in finding someone who could reinforce his message of bringing change to Washington.

Biden's record includes outspoken opposition to US government support for South Africa's apartheid system in the 1980's, agitation from the Senate for stronger US intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s and close involvement with US policy on Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

Biden voted in 2002 for a resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq after failing to secure support for another resolution to that would have allowed military action only after diplomatic efforts had been exhausted. Obama was not in the Senate then, but spoke out against the invasion.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, beaten by Obama narrowly in a bitter struggle for the Democratic nomination, welcomed the selection of Biden, who she described as "an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant."

"Senator Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic Vice President who will help Senator Obama both win the Presidency and govern this great country," she said.

The choice of a running mate can reflect on a candidate's judgment and offer hints of the qualities valued in a crucial adviser, although history has shown it is unlikely to have a major impact on the election between Obama and McCain.

McCain, 71, a Vietnam War veteran and long-time senator from Arizona, has yet to name a running mate.

The McCain campaigned quickly launched a television ad using a clip from a Democratic presidential candidates' debate earlier this year in which Biden said he did not believe Obama was ready to be president and praised McCain.

After the Springfield rally Obama and Biden were to make a tour of some key battleground states, including Iowa and Montana, as they head to the Democratic Party convention that opens tomorrow in Denver.

On Thursday, Obama will formally accept his party's nomination as its presidential candidate, making history as the first black to do so.

While Republicans have tried to depict Obama as a celebrity, Biden has a more down-to-earth image. "I'm not a superstar," Biden said in an interview in December.

The son of a car salesman, he is less wealthy than some of his Senate colleagues and commutes daily to Washington by train from his home 80 miles (130 km) away in Delaware.

A month after his election to the Senate in 1972, Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He also suffered a brain aneurysm in 1988 but recovered fully. Biden's son Beau, a captain in the Army National Guard, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in October.

Biden's first presidential bid was cut short in 1987 amid allegations he had plagiarised a speech by British Labour Party politician Neil Kinnock.

Biden, who has acknowledged a tendency to talk too much, has been prone to verbal gaffes.