Biden In Search of the Best Pie, Ever.

Last Friday diners at the Red Arrow had the opportunity to have a grilled cheese, slice of pie, and conversation with Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the Chair of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. That goes with pie, right?

Biden's a funny guy. Meeting him just once I'm drawn to refer to him as "Joe", sort of like I would my quirky uncle or my pops' friends. At one point I had the opportunity to talk to the Senator about good 'ole Senator Voinovich, and his apparent defection to the side of Iraqi War Withdrawal (even though the man still refuses to vote with us). As we started the Senator offered me a cookie. Yea, you read that right. He offered a cookie. Like I said, he's a funny guy. Quick on the draw, and with a sense of fashion (check out that seer sucker suit in the photos). That's all any of us really need out of a candidate right, fashion and humor?

Getting back to my question...For the first 10 to 15 minutes standing around, Senator Biden talked to most folks about Iraq. The hot question right now is what does Republican Senators Luga, Domenici, Voinovich, and possible others, defections from the official GOP position of supporting the President's war mean. Senator Biden is convinced that the support within the GOP will falter by the fall, and that a change is coming quick. Following on that tiff, I asked the Senator whether these defections really meant anything. Afterall, Voinovich and others may have made a symbolic departure from their party and the President, but they still refuse to vote to support the troops. Well, I've got the Senator's answer on audio below.

Download here.

Inside the Diner it was the scene you'd expect from a New Hampshire campaign stop. 100% real retail politics (as evidenced from the babe above grabbing the Senator's ear). Biden took about 30 minutes to speak with everybody in the diner and even have a slice of pie himself (the chocolate pie at the Arrow, my oh my, it's godly). Anyways, as I've mentioned over the last few days, I've been disappointed with the amount of retail politicking going on out here. It's exciting to see candidates willing to go the extra mile and saunter to take in the community.

Finally, Michelle, one of the waitresses at the Arrow came out to speak with the Senator before he left. Lacking good healthcare, raising college tuition prices, and a scrunched middle class, Michelle has the weight of the world on her back trying to keep her family afloat. Michelle's got a child prepping for college too, which drives her, like many folks, to tears and worries. The Senator took her aside and told her how he knows it's hard on regular folks right now. Relating a story from his youth, while clutching her hand he told her how his own dad had tried to get a loan for him to go to college, and how he gad come home from the bank in tears because they wouldn't loan to the Bidens. He promised her, and I'd suppose that goes for most of us, that things will get better. We're going to have a government that cares about us again.

Joe Biden may or may not be the change that's coming, but he symbolized that change pretty damn well to Michelle and the rest of us gathered.