Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden used a packed town hall meeting at Booker High School on Wednesday to throw a jab at the John McCain camp and to drum up support from backers of all ages.
Biden wasted little time countering a comment by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, who told the Washington Post this election is not about issues, but about what people think of the candidates.
Biden scoffed.
"This race is about the lives of the American people," Biden said. "It's about whether or not you can fill up your gas tank. It's about those people in this state, particularly, who find themselves in bankruptcy or in foreclosure."
For more than an hour, the Delaware senator spoke to a crowd of hundreds in the school's auditorium. Half the time was spent addressing questions from the audience. But during the opening comments, Biden attacked Republican campaign themes and party policies over the past years.
"I've never seen a time in my years as a U.S. senator when so many people have been knocked down and the government has done so little to help them out," Biden said.
Several of his comments were directed at the Bush administration, which he said should have dropped its promise of tax cuts after Sept. 11, 2001, to finance the war on terror.
"Who in America would have said, 'Don't ask that of me?' " he said. "Who in America would have said no?"
The loudest applause came toward the end of Biden's talk, when a woman asked what she should say to well-to-do friends concerned about the possibility of higher taxes with an Obama presidency.
"It's time to be patriotic, that's what you say to them," Biden said.
Biden acknowledged several prominent local Democrats in the audience and said he hopes Florida sends Christine Jennings into Congress this fall, prompting an approving response from the crowd.
When asked by a 12-year-old what she can do to support the Obama-Biden campaign, Biden told children in the crowd to talk to their parents about why they like a particular candidate.
"Your children have more influence over what you think about someone else than the influence you have over their thoughts about someone," Biden said. "If you like Barack Obama and this old white-haired guy, go home and tell your mommy and daddy. The best thing you and your friends can do is talk about it."
A two-minute standing ovation and cheers of "Yes we can" greeted Biden when he took the stage with Sarasota school board member Shirley Brown, who said Obama and Biden will stand up for women, fight for children and work to keep families strong.
In 1994, Biden helped craft the Violence Against Women Act, which earmarked billions in federal dollars to combat domestic violence and gender-based crime. It was that piece of legislation that Biden called his proudest accomplishment during 35 years in Congress.
An hour before Biden arrived, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor delivered some harsh words of her own, accusing the "Bush economy" of placing America's middle class in a total squeeze. A vote for John McCain, she said, would be a vote for the status quo.
"Florida families cannot afford a president not focused on children's health care, not focused on the housing crisis in Florida and who turns a blind eye to our attempts to solve the property insurance crisis," Castor said.
She urged the crowd to talk to their friends and families in the upcoming weeks about the issues that matter most to them.
"I hope you all see there's hope on the horizon," Castor said. "The Obama-Biden ticket is more in step with the issues of concern to Florida families: good education, quality health care."
She added a few more jabs, saying the Bush administration is responsible for the de-regulated conditions that led to the country's mortgage crisis. She said the country's national security has been undermined by the war in Iraq.
Sarasota residents Sue and Bill Herring were abuzz after Biden's talk.
"He was wonderful," Sue Herring said. "He answered a lot of questions and gave us even more reason to get them in office."
Bill Herring agreed.
"He was really dynamic," he said. "He whipped us up."
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