The Biden Campaign Is Starting to Remind Me of His First Senate Campaign

Before I get into details of how now reminds me of then, let me reminisce a bit and tell you a little about that campaign.

It was 1972. The Viet Nam war was still going on but had become unpopular. The environment was a big issue. Idealistic young people were, well, idealistic; we dreamed big dreams and still believed we could change the world.

Joe Biden was a mostly unknown 29-year-old (He'd be 30 before swearing-in day, so he was constitutionally eligible) county councilman, running for the U.S. Senate against a popular incumbent, Cale Boggs (not to be confused with Hale Boggs). Boggs was a two-term Senator, had been a two-term governor, and several-term Congressman. Since Delaware has only one House representative, Congressman is a statewide office. So Boggs had held statewide office since 1947, for about 25 years, never losing an election during that time, I'm pretty sure. Everybody in Delaware knew who Cale Boggs was and probably most of them had met him at some time; hardly anybody even knew who Joe Biden was. Biden hardly registered in the polls.

Joe Biden didn't have a chance. But then, hardly anyone thought he was really serious about trying to get elected anyway. The press and the Republicans thought he was running to get publicity to build up his law practice. My impression was that the state Democratic Party organization didn't really take him seriously but were happy just to have a sacrificial lamb to put his name on the ballot to run against Cale Boggs; Boggs was getting old and maybe the Dems would put up a real candidate next time.

Nobody really believed in Joe Biden but Joe Biden, the Biden family, some close friends, and a bunch of volunteers who had worked in his campaign for county councilman. But he convinced some people in Washington at some unions and some liberal good-government organizations that he was serious and a viable candidate; they provided some campaign funds and one group got some full-time volunteers to go to Delaware.

One thing about that Biden organization was that they knew how to organize, and they built a volunteer organization that was unmatched anywhere. Suddenly one Saturday morning, a four-page Biden campaign flyer appeared on 90% of the doorsteps in Delaware. If I remember right, that was about 170,000 flyers. People and the press kind of thought, "Man, that was weird. How did they do that?"

The next Saturday (or probably two Saturdays later, I don't remember for sure), the same thing happened, except that it was a new flyer. And then again another Saturday, and another. Six times, six different flyers, 90% of the households.

Now, these weren't your standard namby-pamby political flyers that try to appeal to everyone and offend no one, by showing the candidate kissing babies and declaring that he's a good guy and supports Mom and apple pie. These were hard-hitting, issue-oriented, take-a-stand flyers with a dramatic, large-print headline on the cover and details and pictures in the rest. A different subject each time. I remember one on the environment headlined, "If Cale Boggs is an environmentalist, then Pete Dupont is a pauper." That was to counter Boggs's claims to be good on the environment, and it referred to one of the Dupont chemical fortune family. I think I still have one or two of those flyers in the bottom of a box somewhere.

Anyway, each time we blanketed Delaware with Biden flyers (and postcards to sign up as a volunteer), the organization grew, his name recognition grew, and he came up a little in the polls. Of course, all the normal campaign stuff was happening too--speeches, appearances, interviews, all that. With each speech and each appearance came more volunteers. Biden gradually came up in the polls, until at some point people started to realize that he was actually serious about trying to get elected to the Senate. But he didn't have a chance against Cale Boggs.

Sometime probably about two weeks before election day, polls were showing the race almost even. The press took notice. The Republicans thought, "Holy shit!" Boggs started campaigning harder and advertising more, but by then it was too late. We had the momentum going our way.

The day before election day, Sargent Shriver, the Dem. v.p. candidate and member of the popular Kennedy clan, went to Delaware for a campaign appearance and to help boost Biden. Now national candidates don't go to small states like Delaware the day before election day. They go to big swing states then. But 1972 was a little different; everybody knew McGovern didn't have a chance, so they focused on helping down-ticket candidates in close races, like Biden. Picking up this seemingly impossible Senate seat would be a big win. That's why Sargent Shriver was in Delaware, and that's why some big name Republican (maybe Mrs. Nixon, maybe Spiro Agnew, the Republican v.p. candidate from neighboring Maryland, but I don't remember for sure) was there to help Boggs.

Election day came, polls showed a dead heat, big get-out-the-vote effort by both sides. We had a far superior volunteer organization, but Boggs had lots of paid people. At time for the polls to close, we had a volunteer at every polling place in the state. The polls closed, and when they opened the voting machines and read the results, our volunteers called the numbers in to campaign headquarters. There weren't desktop computers or even calculators then--we wrote the numbers on a blackboard with chalk and added them by hand.

A half hour after the polls closed, we knew Biden had won. Only by about 1%, but we knew it because we had the numbers from every polling place in the state. (Back then there weren't many absentee ballots, so that wasn't even a factor.) We knew it, and the celebration began at the hotel where the campaign's election night event was. Network TV was saying the race was too close to call. I remember one of the anchors saying, "The Biden people are celebrating wildly like they're sure they won, but we have it too close to call. We don't get it." We had been celebrating for several hours before the networks finally started to call it for Biden, it was that close.

So recently, somebody on DU posted something about Biden's organization in Iowa and that some pundit thought he'd do surprisingly well there. And it made me think of that 1972 organization that put flyers at 90% of the homes in Delaware again and again and that had someone at every precinct to call in results on election day night. And that's what got me thinking on this thread.

I'd been noticing that every day there were several Biden threads on the greatest page, probably more than a bigger name like Edwards got; every time he got an endorsement from some state official somewhere, there it was on the greatest page. (I don't have much time for DU these days, so I go to "greatest" and a couple specialty forums.) Now I'm sure that every campaign has people here at DU working for their candidate, but it surely appears to me that, relative to their standings in the polls and the size of their campaigns, that Biden's gang here on DU are more effective for their numbers than any of the others. It's that organization thing. And in a caucus state like Iowa, organization and dedication are everything.

Then somebody else posted something about Biden's sister Valerie being national chair of his campaign. Valerie was his campaign manager in 1972 too. She was smart and savvy then, and I'm sure she's smarter and savvier now 35 years later. Another parallel.

I've also been noticing a fair number of people saying things like, "I'm an (Edwards or Obama or Hillary or whoever) supporter, but you know, Biden seems okay to me." A little here, a little there, some gradual progress but nobody much noticing until ... That's how it was in 1972 when he went from unknown, low in the polls, not taken seriously, against all odds, a big underdog against big well-known names to winning.

Although this post is probably a big puff-piece for Biden, I'm not really advocating for him. In fact, at this point, I probably lean slightly to Edwards but I haven't had time or energy to think much about it yet. If Edwards or Biden or any of the other current candidates is our candidate, I'm on board. I'm just saying, you really ought to take Biden seriously. If you don't, you may be walking a ways in Cale Boggs's shoes. Don't be surprised if he surpises you in Iowa (and yes, I realize that is literally an oxymoron, but I'm sure you get the point).

Oh, one final thing. Back in 1972, I think everybody that had any contact with Biden knew that he wanted to run for president some day. And of course, he did run for president, before this campaign. But this time, I get the feeling that something is different. I haven't been paying enough attention to have any rational reason or explanation for this, but this time I don't think Joe Biden wants to run for president. This time I think he wants to be president. That makes a big difference.

and I'm hoping will get into the top tier after either Obama or Edwards steps down. Joe is not without flaws which is probably in his favor. I don't want scripted, perfect, corporate-backed. I like the guy that's a straight talker, tells you the way it really is, and can talk to people on both sides of the aisle. Glad to rec this post. Very interesting.

Biden campaigns in 2007 with a spring in his step and a gleam in his eye that is hugely appealing.
Biden campaigns with a sense of purpose that the others would be wise to emulate.
I hope he does well in Iowa, I hope he sticks around and pushes the debate,which he is so good at, in his direction all the way to election day.

:)

I feel it to, and the better for our nation.

I enjoyed reading it. :)

I learned something today that bolsters my support for the BEST candidate running, Joe Biden!

and very well written. I found Biden's first run for the senate fascinating and I've said that he's running the kind of campaign now that he ran in 1972. It is one of our great all American success stories, which was sadly followed by immense human tragedy.

When one looks at the totality of Biden's career, it is very impressive and inspiring. There are flaws, but the overview is predominantly positive and to me, he is clearly the most qualified candidate running.

Hopefully his presidential campaign goes as well as his race for the senate!

I remember that time, and I followed, voted for him and have voted for him every time since then. But you actually participated in the door to door campaign. Wow!

Don't those memories cause you to want to help him again?:patriot:

those days. I only know it from reading.

In his book, Biden talks about their pre-campaign which was absolutely brilliant. No one knew who he was and didn't know he was running. They started with neighborhood "coffees" where people got to know him personally. Once he announced he was running, a lot of people were familiar with him already. Its like something out of a movie.

and I had forgotten about the coffees. I never really had any direct contact with the coffees, but they were still doing some of them when I got involved. I'll have to check out the book.

Promises to Keep. It is a really good book, easy reading and you can just imagine sitting down with him and listening to him tell you his story. :patriot:

It will bring back a lot of memories for you. This is a remarkable family, one many of us can relate to. Having seen the videos of Beau and Hunter, I continue to be impressed with the Bidens. They seem to be the antidote for this media and money driven age of politics. Joe Biden's story is uniquely American and very inspiring.

I can't wait for the sequel.

This race needs to follow that for America's sake.

can swallow up fantastic efforts like those in Delaware. What interested me was that the elections, by today's lowered standards, was eminently steal-able. They didn't do the last minute dirt. They didn't change the vote count. Also, although no one went to the networks for the proof, the networks didn't hold out for too close.

The reason was primitive and the basic one. Besides surprise and lack of preparedness, I mean. The volunteers had blanketed the polls and checked the numbers already. Although this was a simple approach the bad guys knew enough to be absolutely intimidated and intimidated by the coverage and attention which they got drawn into worsening by dueling with national figure big gun speakers. How many campaigns today can get the numbers(such as they are today) and not just rely on exit polls to gin up their celebrations?
If Kerry won by 4-5 % the evidence and the people overseeing the polls were not so fortunate. The GOP learn from dramas like these. Dems think they can be repeated endlessly.

But the important thing is the actual, volunteer enthusiasm waking the scene up and being there all the way to the ballot box and beyond. The presence that seems so small in dropping leaflets while the opposition is dropping slander bombs and the MSM studiously ignores and dampens is still huge in the aggregate- IF it represents the majority of the people and is everywhere it possibly can be. That is still something the GOP cannot hope to replicate without paid outsiders and oppressed media.

but there always seems to me a nice maturity in the air when we discuss Joe.
America will lose one of the best Presidents it will ever have if he's not elected IMHO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUC8LeZ1hM4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtGCaqOdIJ4

I'm sure they would love it - maybe even post it on their blog.

Thanks for posting this!

as in "Where the hell did HE come from!?" to be said right after the Iowa caucus?

:patriot:

Bravo, and thank you.