I think Biden will help Obama in the rural areas of the country. He’ll also fulfill the very important roll of attacking McCain better then anyone else, after all, who better to criticize McCain then a man who has known him for 35 years. More importantly, Biden won’t polarize republicans and independent voters away from Obama, something Clinton would have certainly done. Its also interesting to note that Obama stood firm against all the pressure to make Clinton his running mate. It shows that he wasn’t going to be pushed around and in the end, will stand by the reason he ran for president 19 months ago, which was to wipe the table clean and be a force for change. Although I would have understood the politics if Obama picked Clinton, I think many would have questioned his sincerity if he was to ever speak of change again.   

Biden is the correct choice, he will appeal to independent voters and moderate republicans just because there isn’t anything polarizing about him. However, there is some irony in this because if Obama/Biden will win the fight over independent voters, it might still come down to the 20% or so of the 18+ million voters who supported Clinton who still need to get behind the democratic ticket in order for Obama to win. I think the three key moments at the Democratic convention will be when the two Clintons will speak and Obama’s final acceptance speech on Thursday. No doubt a turning point because it will determine what all those Clinton supporters will do as we get closer to Nov. 2nd.