This Sunday, December 21: Vice President-Elect Joe Biden is a guest on ABC-TV's "This Sunday With George Stephanopoulous."

This will be VP-Elect Biden's first interview with "This Week" since the November election. He will discuss issues, priorities, White House Cabinet appointments and budgets under the Obama-Biden Administration, his reactions to an auto bailout and a new economic stimulus package, and his upcoming inauguration celebration on January 20, 2009.

"This Week" airs Sunday on local ABC channels throughout the United States. In the New York City area, it airs at 10:00 am ET. Here are some other cities with "This Week" local air times:

Los Angeles, 8:00 am
San Francisco, 8:00 am
Boston, 9:00 am
Chicago, 9:30 am
Houston, 10:00 am
Washington DC, 10:00 am
Detroit, 10:30 am
Philadelphia, 10:30 am
Atlanta, 11:00 am

According to The Legal Times, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the oldest and longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court, will swear in VP-Elect Joseph Biden as Vice President next month on Innauguration Day.

Vigorous and sharp at 88, he has served on the court for 32 years. In criminal-law and death-penalty cases, Stevens has voted against the government and in favor of the individual more frequently than any other sitting justice.

He files more dissents and separate opinions than any of his colleagues. He is the court's most outspoken defender of the need for judicial oversight of executive power. And in recent years, he has written majority opinions in two of the most important cases ruling against the Bush Administration's treatment of suspected enemy combatants in the war on terror -- an issue the court is revisiting this term when it hears appeals by Guantánamo detainees, challenging their lack of access to federal courts.

Justice Stevens was named to the Court in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. It is rare for a Vice President to be sworn in by a justice appointed by a president of the opposite party, so Vp-Elect Biden's choice to have Stevens swear him in can be seen as a bipartisan gesture -- though Justice Stevens is usually regarded as one of the most liberal justices on the Court.

According to family members and former law clerks, Justice Stevens still writes the first draft of his opinions. He uses the Internet, studied French before a recent vacation in Europe, and has become hooked on Sudoku number puzzles.

In addition, Stevens he has survived prostate cancer and had a bypass heart operation in the 1970s. Since then he has followed a low-fat diet, eating only a grapefruit for lunch.

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner has named a longtime aide to Sen. Joe Biden to fill the U.S. Senate seat Biden will be vacating for the vice presidency.

At a news conference in Wilmington this afternoon, Gov. Minner said she would appoint Ted Kaufman to fill the vacancy.

Edward E. "Ted" Kaufman is a member of the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition project and Co-Chair of Vice-President Biden's transition team.

He was Senior Adviser to Senator Biden on the Obama Biden Presidential campaign. He has held a senior position in all of Biden's federal campaigns.

He was on Biden's Senate staff from 1973 through 1994, nineteen years as Chief of Staff.

It was not immediately clear if Biden would resign his Senate seat before or after he begins his seventh term in January. However, he must resign before being sworn in Jan. 20 as vice president.

Speculation on Biden's successor had centered in recent weeks on his son, Attorney General Beau Biden. Last week, however, the younger Biden announced that he planned to fulfill his National Guard duties and wouldn't accept an appointment to his father's U.S. Senate seat.

We wish you good luck and much success, Ted!

Vice President-Elect Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) has just named three new White House staff positions:

Ms. Cynthia Hogan will be counsel to the newly-elected Vice President. She previously served as Chief Counsel to Senator Biden during his time in the United States Senate, and served as Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1995 she assisted with the drafting of anti-terrorism legislation.

When she worked for Committee Chairman Sen. Biden, they successfully passed the landmark 1994 Violence Crime and Control Act and the Violence Against Women Act. She also advised him during the Supreme Court nominations process for both Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

Mr. Moises V. Vela, Jr. will join the White House staff as Director of Administration to Vice President Biden. From 1996-2000, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Advisor on Hispanic Affairs for Vice President Al Gore. Most recently, Vela was the founder and a partner at The Comunidades Group, a multi-family acquisition and operations company headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Mr. Biden's wife, Dr. Jill Biden, has named Catherine M. Russell as her new Chief of Staff. Most recently, Ms. Russell served as Chief of Staff to Mrs. Biden during the presidential campaign.

She also worked as a Senior Advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on international women's issues. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Associate Deputy Attorney General.

Senator Biden remarked, "Cathy Russell has a unique blend of policy and management experience, combined with an ardent commitment to ending injustices around the world. Cynthia Hogan is a brilliant lawyer who was instrumental in guiding the Senate Judiciary Committee though some of its most important challenges in both crime control and judicial selection, and has shown incredible legal acumen and integrity over her career. I'm grateful to have Moe Vela, a man with experience in White House management and broad outreach skills on my team."

We wish them the best of luck and much success in their new jobs!

President-elect Barack Obama today named Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. as the next U.S. Attorney General. He has accepted the position, pending a Senate approval.

Mr. Holder will be the first African-American U.S. Attorney General in American history.

He was former Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1997 to 2001. He also served as Acting Attorney General under President George Bush for a few weeks until the Senate confirmed John Ashcroft as the AG nominee.

Last year Mr. Holder joined Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. And most recently, he became part of a three-member Vice Presidential selection committee with Caroline Kennedy and Jim Johnson.

He is 57, and married with three children.

VP-Elect Sen. Joe Biden has tapped VP Gore veteran Ron Klain to be his chief of staff.

Earlier in his career, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Byron White during the Court’s 1987 and 1988 Terms and worked on Capitol Hill, where he was Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Klain had also previously been close to Sen. Biden through his service as counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Committee, when Sen. Biden was its Chairman.

Ron Klain was portrayed by actor Kevin Spacey in the 2008 film "Recount."

Congrats, Mr. Klain - you've got a great new boss!

There is a great profile on Senator Biden in today's New York Times, "From The Road: Biden's Closing Argument." Here is the link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/11/04/politics/fromtheroad/entry4568577.shtml

"...Biden's poll numbers have steadily climbed since he was announced as Obama's running mate, and nearly three quarters of Americans believe he would be prepared to take over the presidency..."

"...This election is not about Barack," Biden said Monday. "It's not about me, it's not about Sarah Palin or John McCain, it's about you and now it's up to you. It's up to you to take back this country."

"It's in your hands. In less than 24 hours, we'll know who the next leader of the free world is and ladies and gentlemen, I know. I know, America knows, that Pennsylvania is going to decide the next President of the United States of America. It's gonna be Barack Obama!"

God bless you, Joe Biden...we're with you, all the way!

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari announced Tuesday government awards for U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and Republican Senator Richard Lugar.

Biden and Lugar in July introduced a bipartisan U.S. aid plan which calls for $1.5 billion per year in non-military spending to support economic development in Pakistan.

Zardari had awarded them the "Hilal-i-Pakistan" (Crescent of Pakistan) "in recognition of their consistent support for Pakistan," the government said in a statement.

Pakistan has figured in the U.S. presidential election campaign, with both Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain speaking of the need for more focus on defeating the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and eradicating al Qaeda from Pakistan's borderlands.

Zardari is the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in a suicide attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27 last year.

Take A Look: In-depth VP candidate profile of Senator Joe Biden in Oct. 20th "New Yorker" magazine, see Web link, below:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fact_lizza?printable=true

The article, by Ryan Lizza, is in "The Political Scene" department, called "Biden's Brief." Here are two paragraphs from the article:

During the primaries, which continued until June, Obama and Biden spoke about twice a week. “He’d call not so much to ask for advice as to bounce things off me,” Biden said as we sat in the tent. “And then when he asked me if I would consider being vetted”�"possible Vice-Presidential candidates must submit to a personal and financial investigation by the campaign�"“I said I’d have to think about it.”

Biden, who has served in the United States Senate for thirty-six years, wasn’t certain that the Vice-Presidency was an improvement over his current position. “I’ve got a job I think matters now, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee,” he said. “Presumptuous for me to say, but at least�"at a minimum�"I’ve been able to influence the direction of the Democratic Party on foreign policy. And I’ve been relatively�"presumptuous to say�"relatively successful legislatively in the Senate, being able to win a lot of Republican friends, and being able to cross the aisle. And so it wasn’t self-evident to me that being Vice-President would be a better job�"you know what I mean?”

Sen. Joe Biden is scheduled to tape two talk show appearances in Burbank today and speak at two campaign fundraisers in West Hollywood tonight in his first trip to Southern California since becoming the Democratic VP nominee.

He will tape an appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" that will air tonight.

Sen. Biden will also tape an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' syndicated daytime talk show, scheduled for future broadcast.

He is scheduled to speak at two fundraising events for the Democratic National Committee's Obama-Biden Victory Fund, both at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. One fundraiser is a $500-per-person reception and the other is a reception and dinner.

http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden joins actor Colin Farrell on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, this Thursday, October 16.

Tune in!!!

Ohio: As part of the “Change We Need Rally” tour of Ohio, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden will be in Ohio this Tuesday, Oct. 14th, and Wednesday, Oct. 15th, for several Obama-Biden campaign events.

Sen. Biden will kick off the tour through eastern Ohio starting Tuesday with a “Change We Need Rally” at the Warren Community Amphitheatre in Warren. Doors open at 8:30 am and it starts around 10:30 am. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but the campaign recommends RSVPing at the Barack Obama Web site.

Later on Tuesday afternoon Sen. Biden will speak at Ohio University Eastern Campus in St. Clairsville. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 2 pm and the program begins at 4 pm.

Tuesday night Sen. Biden will speak at 7:15 pm in an outdoor rally on Armory Square in front of the old Ohio National Guard armory on Front Street in Marietta. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

For security purposes, the area around the armory will be cordoned off…no tickets are required, but the audience will be admitted first-come first serve through a gate where metal detectors will be used.

Tune in to C-Span tonight,Sunday, at 9:30 pm, to see this afternoon's Obama-Biden rally in Scranton, PA - with guest speakers Democratic VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and NY Senator Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton.   Read More »

Greensburg, PA: Speaking to a packed house in the Greensburg Salem High School gym Thursday, Democratic VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) criticized the Bush Administration on its handling of U.S. military involvement in Iraq, shouting, “we will end this war.”

Introduced by NFL Hall of Famer and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, and Norma Margonari, a local activist who comes from a large family of coal miners, Biden opened his remarks by thanking Pittsburgh for pitching in to help his family. He choked up and somberly spoke about how after his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident, Rocky Bleier, one of the Steelers, came to his sons’ hospital room to give them footballs to cheer them up, at the request of Dan Rooney’s dad.

Biden calmed fears when he said the Obama-Biden team would guarantee to keep Social Security intact. He answered questions on health care benefits and fixing the economy - but his most crowd-rousing comments were given about the Iraq War.

His statement, “Imagine a country where we only go to war when it is absolutely necessary” brought a big round of applause.

Biden continued, “and when we do….. we go with the support of the rest of the world.” More big applause. And then, ” Ladies and gentlemen, we will end this war.” Standing ovation.

Senator Biden’s got a personal interest in six-year long war, since his family learned their oldest son, Beau, currently Delaware’s Attorney General, and a captain in the National Guard, will be deployed to Iraq next month. But he’s been blasting the Bush Administration for several years for their lack of commitment to benefits for vets returning home, including making it extremely hard to be considered “eligible” for education and health benefits once their tours of duty are over.

Last year, the senator’s bill to provide funding for MRAPs, mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, paved the way for construction and distribution of these V-shaped hull tanks, directly leading to a dramatic drop in the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who were hit by roadside bombs. The bill was passed by a vote of 75-24. The one remaining vote was Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was absent in the Senate that day.

Pittsburgh has a higher than average number of residents in the U.S. military. Speaking to the veterans and their families in the crowd, Biden continued, “The only people sacrificing right now are those who have children or husbands or wives who are serving, and the families that are left behind. And we don’t mention it often enough, but we have thousands of people who have died. We have over 30,000 who have been wounded.”

He continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, we owe them. We owe them more than we can ever repay them.”

The senator stayed to answer questions (unlike his counterpart, Gov. Sarah Palin, so far…) and left to a standing ovation.

Sep. 22: Today in a special telephone conference call with reporters, Tom Nee, the president of the National Association Of Police Organizations, announced his organization's support and endorsement of the Obama-Biden team.

In opening remarks addressed to Senator Biden, Nee announced:

"it's my great honor this morning to pledge to you, and to commit to you, the support of 287,000 police officers from around the country -- representative of about 2,000 organizations that have pledged their support to your candidacy, and to the candidacy of Barack Obama, as the next president and vice president of the United States."

After his endorsement announcement, Nee explained, "Joe, I've got to tell you, man to man. We've been great friends, and you've worked so very hard on behalf of the American people for a very long period of time. We know that we can count on you," Nee added. "You have a proven track record. You've never talked the talk. You've walked the walk ..."

After thanking Nee for his support, Sen. Biden responded, "And, look, here's the thing I can commit to you guys and to the women in your organization -- we are going to reestablish he crime bill. We are going to put another 50,000 cops on the street. We are going to provide for the kind of technological health you guys need."

Biden continued, "Tommy, I promise you, I guarantee you -- I would not have joined this ticket unless I was absolutely convinced that Barack's voting record would be exactly how he will govern as president. So it's a big deal. And we're not going to do anything, literally, without asking you guy to the table. You know what you need. You know what the problems are."

The National Association of Police Organizations represents 2,000+ unions and associations, with 238,000 law enforcement officers and 11,000 retired officers. It also includes 100,000+ citizen members who "share a common dedication to fair and effective crime control and law enforcement."

Senator Biden was a guest speaker on the last day of the NAPO Convention on August 4; Senator McCain was invited as well, but sent a surrogate, the former governor of Oklahoma, Frank Keating.

Each speaker got about half of the votes but neither had a required two-thirds majority, so The Executive Board set up a meeting on September 20 to decide who NAPO would endorse in the 2008 presidential elections. Today they announced their endorsement goes to Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden.

JAZZ FOR OBAMA! WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1st. A Concert for America 's Future....featuring:

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
DIANNE REEVES
BRAD MEHLDAU
JOE LOVANO
ROY HAYNES
ROY HARGROVE
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
STANLEY JORDAN
KURT ELLING
HANK JONES
CHARLIE HUNTER/DOUG WAMBLE DUO
BILAL/ROBERT GLASPER
STEFON HARRIS
ROBERTA GAMBARINI

AND SOME VERY SPECIAL GUESTS!

DATE: October 1, 2008
PLACE: 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City.
TIME: Doors open at 6:30 pm; concert begins at 7:30 pm
TICKET PRICES: $100 General Admission; $250 VIP Reserved Seating and Post-Concert Reception; $50 Student (with valid ID).

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE OBAMA FOR AMERICA PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
TICKETS AND ALL INFORMATION NOW AVAILABLE ONLY AT:
www.jazzforobama.com

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will hold a women’s rally, “The Change We Need,” today in Sterling, VA.

Gates will open to the public at 10:30 AM at the Claude Moore Park, 21544 Old Vestals Gap Road in Sterling. Program begins at 12:00 noon.

Among other things, Sen. Biden is expected to talk about the nation’s troubled economy. Yesterday Sen. Biden remarked that John McCain’s answer to the current economic crisis was “the ultimate bridge to nowhere.”

Additional program details: The event is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required. Space is limited, and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Where to get tickets:

Leesburg Campaign for Change Office
312 E. Market Street
Leesburg, VA
(703) 771-1498

Manassas Campaign for Change Office
9210 Lee Avenue
Manassas, VA
(571) 560-1650

McLean Campaign for Change Office
7600 Colshire Drive
McLean, VA

Centreville Campaign for Change Office
14260 Centreville Sq.
Suite N
Centreville, VA
(703) 815-8209


For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal belongings. Remember, no signs or banners permitted.

The National Jewish Democratic Council will hold its second annual conference next week, Tuesday, Sept 23 through Wednesday, Sept 24, in Washington, DC.

I am pleased to report that Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) will be the Keynote Speaker on Tuesday night.

The conference, "Repairing The World, One Election At A Time" will be held at the Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The hotel phone number is (202) 483-3000.

Conference events are open to the public, but you must register to attend. There are different rates to attend the conference, and you may, if you wish, register for only one of the two days' events.

Visit the NJDC Web site for more information at:
http://www.njdc.org

You can view the Conference flyer at:
http://njdc.typepad.com/flyer0923.pdf

For more information you can call Aaron Keyak, NJDC Press Sec'y at (202) 216-9060.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) blasted the Bush Administration and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, presenting a fiery speech about the state of the economy on Monday in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, where their unemployment rate is now at 8.5%, its lowest in 20 years.

On the same day as Sen. McCain told reporters in Orlando "our economy is fundamentally strong," Biden pushed the envelope, pushing that there was not an ounce of daylight between Pres. George Bush and Sen. John McCain, and summarized the state of the economy as "a record number of home foreclosures. Home values, tumbling. And the disturbing news that the crisis you've been facing on Main Street is now hitting Wall Street, taking down Lehman Brothers and threatening other financial institutions."

"I heard that a Republican County Chairman right here in Michigan said that they're keeping a list of foreclosed homes, suggesting that if you've lost your home, you should also lose your vote," Biden stated. "I have a different idea. I think that if you're worried about losing your home, you should vote for the guys who are going to help you keep it!"

The guilty party is Macomb County Chair James Carabelli who told reporters in a telephone interview this week the local party wanted to make sure "that proper electoral procedures were followed."

Michigan State election rules allow parties to assign "election challengers" to polls to monitor the election.These challengers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they "have a good reason to believe" that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a "true resident of the city or township." The county Republicans planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being "true residents."

Biden added, "We've seen eight straight months of job losses. Nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance. Average incomes down, while the price of everything -- from gas to groceries -- has skyrocketed. A military stretched thin from two wars and multiple deployments."

"A nation more polarized than I've ever seen in my career," remarked Biden, "and a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table, and everybody else is on the menu."

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) revealed his economic plan on Tuesday, suggesting he'd simplify the tax code so that any employed American with a bank account can do their taxes in minutes if they take the standard deduction. "There's no reason the IRS can't send Americans pre-filled tax forms to verify," he said, "with no more worry, no more wasted time, no more extra expenses for a tax preparer."

The Obama-Biden economic plan can be viewed HERE in its entirety.

For those of you who don’t yet know who you are going to vote for, here’s how some of the media has portrayed our candidates.

The words in quotes listed below were pulled from various news sources.

In the end, only YOU decide…

------------------------------------------

If you grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and were raised by your grandparents, as a presidential candidate you're "exotic, different."

If you grew up in Alaska shooting moose and eating moose burgers, as a Governor running for VP, yours is a “quintessential American story.”

If your first name is Barack, as a presidential candidate you're considered a “radical, unpatriotic Muslim.” Even though you have been married to the same woman for 19 years, while raising two daughters, while your family practices their Protestant faith and attends church each week, you’re not “a real Christian ��" how can you be, if you name is Barack Hussein Obama.”

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich liquor heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, as a pro-life presidential candidate from Arizona, you’re still “a Christian.”

If you graduated from Harvard law School and went to work for church outreach centers s in Chicago, as a presidential candidate, you, Barack Obama, are “unstable.”

Yet if you attended five different small colleges in Alaska before graduating, as a VP candidate Ms. Palin is “well-grounded.”

If you became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review in Harvard University history, spent three years as a community organizer, setting up food pantries, finding people jobs and getting people off welfare, then created a voter registration drive that registered 150,000 new voters in Illinois, then worked 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor at ISU, worked eight years as an Illinois State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, then became Chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services Committee, then spent four years in the U.S. Senate representing a state of 13 million people while writing and sponsoring 131 bills, served on the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Veteran's Affairs Committees, as a presidential candidate according to the McCain-Palin team because he was never a governor, he “doesn't have any real leadership experience.”

If your resume includes being a local TV weather girl, working six years as the mayor of a town in Alaska with less than 7,000 people, spending 20 months as the governor of Alaska, a state with only 650,00 people, as a VP candidate Ms. Palin is “qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.”

If you teach children about how to get away from sexual predators and vote for Congressional bills that prosecute child molestors, as a presidential candidate Barack Obama is “irresponsible and eroding the fiber of society.”

If, while governor, you write education bills that advocate abstinence only, with no other sex education taught in your state, and your unwed 16 year old daughter tells you she is pregnant, as a VP candidate Ms. Palin is “very responsible” even though the HIV rate in her state is in the top five in the country.

If your wife is a Harvard law school graduate who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm in New York City, so she could work for the betterment of her home town inner city community, then gave that job up to raise a family, as the wife of a presidential candidate, the media tellsl us Michelle Obama family's values “don't represent America’s.”

If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude,” and has two DUI convictions, no college education, didn’t register to vote until age 25, and was an active member until 2002 of a group that called for the secession of Alaska from the USA, as the husband of a VP candidate your family “is extremely admirable.”


Like I said, don’t let the media tell you who should be president and vice president. Only YOU decide.