Another article from Delaware

Post-caucus Biden just runs out of steam
By NICOLE GAUDIANO, News Journal Washington Bureau

Posted Sunday, January 6, 2008

Sen. Joe Biden's adrenaline was pumping before Thursday's Iowa caucus results started coming in. He had even chartered a jet to head to New Hampshire.
DES MOINES -- Pumped up on adrenaline, Sen. Joe Biden compared himself to an athlete as he stood beneath bright lights at the Polk County Convention Complex on game day -- the Iowa caucuses.

As he put it, he was the single punt returner. The ball was about to be snapped.

"I don't think about being tackled," he said. "I think about scoring."

Biden had been confident he would at least beat New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, despite trailing him in most polls. A surprise fourth-place showing, if close, could have lent legitimacy and public support to his campaign, propelling him into Saturday night's New Hampshire debates and finally opening donor floodgates.

He chartered a jet to leave that night for the next contest in New Hampshire and said he would at least stay in the race until late January, "no matter what."

That was a half hour before the caucuses.

As the adrenaline faded, an exhausted Biden fell asleep. He was awakened later by his wife, Jill, to a far different playing field than he expected, forcing him to drop out of the race.

Iowa caucus-goers favored Sen. Barack Obama's message of change over the voices of experience, delivering a third-place setback for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and a blow to Biden, who captured less than 1 percent of the delegates and came in fifth.

After his concession speech, Biden said he didn't expect the record turnout or that so much of the vote would be consumed by the front-runners.

"If I care about what I say ... I should get back to the Senate and try to keep people's feet to the fire, try to make the changes I've talked about," he said during an interview.

"I feel good about what we did, I feel good about the race we ran. I'm going to keep it up. I'm going to go back to the Senate, and I'm going to go back and thank the folks in Delaware for giving me the grace period to come out here and try this."

Polls never looked good

Looking at polls, one might think Biden shouldn't have been surprised. In the latest Des Moines Register Iowa poll, he was in fifth place behind Richardson, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Obama and Clinton.

But Biden saw his crowds growing. The media started making note of it, with some saying a Biden surprise showing was possible.

His aides called the buzz "Mo Joe," which incidentally was the name (Mojo's) of the Davenport coffee house where he held his last campaign event Thursday, one of three on a day that started at 6:15 a.m. with radio interviews.

By midday on Thursday, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa called, telling him that he, too, thought Biden would come in fourth and that he had a strong shot at third, said Biden's political director, Danny O'Brien.

Short on resources, Biden ran a traditional campaign, focusing on Iowans who had been to previous caucuses and were likely to show up.

But the influx of new voters raised the number of supporters Biden would need in each precinct to stay viable -- and the Biden supporters were overwhelmed. At most of Iowa's 1,781 precincts, a candidate's viability requires a showing of 15 percent of the turnout.

"We had nine people," said Penni Guyler, a nurse from Des Moines, who attended Biden's post-caucus rally. "We needed 38."

Biden's percentage, 0.93, reflects the percentage of delegates that will support him at the convention and not the popular vote, which hasn't been released.

Deciding to drop out

When Biden's wife, Jill, woke him before the post-caucus rally, they discussed the results and ended the campaign as they began it -- with a family decision.

"Between waking up and getting down to the site of the event, it all set in on him," O'Brien said. "He realized the long shot was even longer."

Supporters at his rally at the Science Center of Iowa waved signs in a dimly lit room and shouted, "We love you." Photos of Biden on the campaign trail flashed on a movie-sized screen.

"I love you guys, too," he said, with more than a dozen of his family members, some tearful, standing behind him. His tone sounded paternal as he addressed the crowd he wasn't going away.

Biden said he entered the race -- his last for the White House -- because he thought it was the right moment for him.

On the campaign stump, Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told audiences how he grew up with foreign leaders, pitched his plan for a political settlement in Iraq and talked of restoring America's place in the world.

In a race that focused on change versus experience, the 65-year senator told audiences that he had both. But too often, his knowledge of foreign affairs left some audience members talking not about his qualifications for president, but his qualifications for secretary of state.

During a post-caucus interview, Biden said, "no, no," when asked whether he would take a position as secretary of state, but then seemed to leave the door open.

"When you're secretary of state, I'd have to be convinced that the nominee, the Democratic president, we really shared the same kind of views," he said.

Biden has received calls from other candidates seeking his support, including one who asked him not to get involved with another campaign, O'Brien said, declining to give a name.

But Biden said he wouldn't be endorsing another candidate at this stage. In the early hours after the caucus, Biden's mind was elsewhere.

He was taking the plane he chartered to New Hampshire to Wilmington, instead, where he spent time with family and thanked supporters.

He rattled off a list of hearings his committee would hold, involving Iraq, Pakistan and Africa, once the Senate returns to work on Jan. 22.

"There's a lot of work to do," he said, "and I hope I can play a very constructive role."

Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gns.gannett.com.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/NEWS/801060348/1006/NEWS

He had even chartered a jet to head to New Hampshire.

how could their internal polling have been so wrong? Did someone fluff it up? Was it just that more people turned out for Obama, Hill, JE? I don't know....did people just change their minds? I don't get it. I think that's why Joe was so confident, as were others who thought he would do much better, they knew what they had going in, or at least that's what Joe was being led to believe....one thing's for sure, Joe left no stone unturned in Iowa. He hit more places than Obama did. Probably more than the others as well.

I have some other thoughts as well, but best to keep them to myself, so as not to continue the 'caucus debate'.

We had double the number of people attend, which put the head count he needed much higher. For instance, he would have normally needed around 14 heads. With the crowd we had, he needed 35. The most we could milk out from all the non-viable and leftovers of the top 3 was 21. The caucus leader did what he could to give us everyone beyond those whole delegates.

That scenario was repeated across the state.

I have a question and don't want to post it here..

Oh, God here come the tears again.

He evidently was as confident as we were.

and in the end the unprecedented number of Dems foiled our plans for Joe. It's good, and it is sad. :(

I know it isn't any consolation, but something good came out of it.