Joe lowkey in Scranton

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Sep 1, 5:01 PM EDT

Biden, in Pa., lauds blue-collar roots in Scranton

By PATRICK WALTERS
Associated Press Writer
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SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -- Sen. Joe Biden toured his boyhood home and enjoyed a Labor Day picnic in its shady backyard as he reminisced about the blue-collar values the city taught him.

"This is where my family values and my faith melded," Biden, the Democratic nominee for vice president, told about 75 hand-picked supporters. "The one thing you learned here is, a promise made is a promise kept."

Earlier in the day, Biden nixed plans to march in a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh, saying he needed to focus instead on Hurricane Gustav's landfall on the Gulf Coast. Asked about the Bush administration's storm preparations, Biden said, "So far I've been impressed."

Biden lived in Scranton until 1953, when his father moved the 10-year-old and other family members to Delaware to search for a better job. His 91-year-old mother and a brother, Jimmy, joined him Monday at the three-story home as Democrats sought to shore up support in Pennsylvania, a perennial battleground.

Four years ago, Democratic nominee John Kerry made Scranton his first campaign stop after accepting the nomination. And Biden peppered his acceptance speech last month with references to his roots in Scranton, which boasts many socially conservative Democrats who largely spurned Biden's running mate, Barack Obama, in the primary in favor of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On Monday, Biden recalled hearing his first political debates at the family's kitchen table. Describing Scranton's political climate then, he said "To be Irish was to be Catholic was to be Democrat."

Biden discussed the cost of fuel, health care and college with a small group that included a local police officer who had undergone an organ transplant.

As Obama and Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain muted their campaigns Monday to focus on Gustav, Biden said he considered his visit to Scranton more of a homecoming.

"I don't consider this political. I consider this coming home," he said.

Biden later appeared with Gov. Ed Rendell at the city's Italian festival, where he urged support for hurricane victims and promised a return trip to Scranton.

"I will be back to campaign in earnest," he said.

Gustav was downgraded to a Category 2 storm by midmorning. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 storm when it hit the Gulf Coast three years ago, obliterating 90,000 square miles of property and costing billions of dollars in response and repairs.