CHICAGO, Ill — A press plane packed with Bidens means there are a lot of talkers - and one of the clan’s youngest charmed the traveling press corps on a flight from Richmond to Chicago.

10 year old Finnegan Biden, who grandpa Joe often mentions on the stump, revealed that she wants to be president when she grows up.

The man who’s actually running for a White House job rescued young Finnie from the pack of jackals - though he said he subscribed to anything she said. Finnegan, said Senator Biden, was the family member pushing hardest for him to take the VP job.

“It was the beginning of speculation and quite frankly I did not think it was real. And I turned to Finnegan and I said what do you think I should do?” Bien said. “She said I think you should do it. And I said why, and she said – I think I remember you saying Barack Obama needs you.”

“First, it’d be really cool,” young Finnegan told the press on the plane. “And he, he and Barack Obama will make a difference.”

Biden joked that one of the deciding factors in accepting Obama’s offer was the fact that the Vice Presidential residence is only a mile and a half from Finnegan’s house - owned by Biden’s son Hunter. “And her little sister Masie is up there. She said yeah, pop, it’s got a swimming pool. They’re all reasons,” Biden said.

Appearing relaxed, Biden said he’s superstitious and doesn’t want to talk about what will happen if they win — but several times spoke of a future in Washington before adding a caveat.

“I’m getting a dog. I’ve always had dogs. I’ve always– assuming we win, and I’m not assuming anything,” he said. “We’re not there yet. The deal’s not closed yet.”

And asked whether his mother, who lives on his property in Wilmington, would move in with him in DCBIden said “I really am superstitious and we really have not talked about it.”

Biden is doing interviews with local TV stations from a Chicago hotel, then plans to watch returns with his family and the Obamas before going to Grant Park for what will either be a massive victory rally or a massive wake. But the Delaware Senator wasn’t sure which it would be - or when he would know.

“The polls are going to close and by 9 o’ clock eastern time.Yyou will have Virginia, well into you know, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, by that time,” he said. “You’re going to know whether you’re going to be up a long, you know a long night or if it’s going to be a short night.”

As his youngest granddaughter Natalie, age 4, came and hugged his leg, Biden turned the stage over to the younger generation. “Well, I’m gonna leave you guys at this press conference,” he said, returning to his cabin.

AP Photo-Richmond, VA

RICHMOND, VA — In his final solo appearance of this campaign, Democratic VP Nominee Joe Biden shook hands outside Montrose Elementary School - a polling place just minutes from the airport.

Joined by Gov Tim Kaine, Biden worked a racially mixed rope line about 100 feet from the building - and told one poll watcher who came out to invite him inside that he’d been told that was as close as he could get. “If i came in, I’d be tempted to vote twice,” he said.

Lots of hugs and close talking along the rope line, as is his wont. He gave his Secret Service flag pin to one 6 year old boy who had taken a shine to it as they talked, pinning it on the youngster and spinning him around for the cameras to see. “That’s a secret service flag pin,” he said. “wear it with pride.”

The Delaware Senator also greeted two folks with Firefighters for Obama shirts on and thanked them for all their hard work, and signed more than one voter registration card.

Biden told reporters he’s feeling good. “I always feel at the end of the race that it ain’t over til it’s over. so we’re waiting ’til the polls close. right guys? ” he said.

As he walked off the line, one woman in an Obama t-shirt yelled “are you leaving?” over and over, dancing a bit and shouting “i’m so excited.”

In the parking lot, Sen. Biden visited with 19-year old first time voter Wayne Philips of Richmond, who suffers from Sickle Cell Anemia and was too ill to make it into the polls - so election officials brought the voting machine out to Philips in the parking lot.

Biden and family are now off to Chicago for a round of satellite interviews designed to help get out the vote - and to watch returns with Obama.

AP Photo-Wilmington, DE

WILMINGTON, DE - Joe Biden’s vote is officially in the books.

Cheers from the crowd outside the polling place announced the Delaware Senator’s arrival just before 9am. BIden walked into this school, just two blocks from his home, with his wife Jill, daughter Ashley, and 91-year old mother Jean Finnegan Biden in tow. The VP nominee flashed his trademark smile, and gave the assembled press a wave.

Emerging from the booth, Biden gave a thumbs up for the cameras before kissing his wife, out first. “Feeling good. Feeling good,” he said — but as per the law, wouldn’t say who got his vote.

“Don’t tell em who you voted for,” Biden told his mother after she cast her ballot. Turning to a polling worker, he said “Mom says this is the most important election of her lifetime, and not because you’re running Joe.”

The family walked out to cheers and applause - and a few jeers from fans of Biden’s Senate opponent, Republican Christine O’Donnell. Biden is still running for his senate seat, in addition to taking a spot on the Democratic presidential ticket - so he was able to vote for himself twice.

The VP is headed to Chicago with 35 family members on board his usually empty press plane — with a short stop in Richmond, VA on the way.

AP-Philadelphia, PA

PHILADELPHIA, PA — On the eve of what he and his running mate hope will be a big victory, Joe Biden took the stage with a man who just earned the biggest win of his professional life - World Series champion short stop Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Ready to celebrate one more time?” Rollins asked the crowd of 2,000 gathered for this late night rally in South Philly — which kicked off at 11:15 pm. “We took the curse off by winning a championship. Now it’s time to take the curse off America.”

Jill Biden, a huge Phillies fan who attended the series clinching game 5 at nearby Citizen’s Bank Park, took the microphone in a red Phillies jacket, whooping and waving a Phillies towel like she was in the audience. “One of the best nights of this campaign was watching the Phillies win the series. But with your help we can win another big victory tomorrow night!” she said, punctuating her remarks with a loud “Wooohoo!!”

“I feel good tonight, because you know. You know, things end well when you’ve got Jimmy Rollins leading off the batting order here tonight,” Biden said as he took the podium. But as he often does when talking baseball, the Delaware senator and self-proclaimed Phillies fan committed an error.

“If Barack Obama’s the Jimmy Rollins of the ticket, I feel like Jamie Moyer,” Biden said — referring to the 45 -year old game 3 starting pitcher. Biden, however, called him “The reliever.”

“A little bit older, you know what I mean? You know, but we make a hell of a team, I tell you.”

Aside from all the baseball analogies, Biden had a simple message for Pennsylvania, a state on which John McCain has placed much of his hope for an electoral upset.

“Pennsylvania is going to decide the next President of the United States of America. It’s gonna be Barack Obama,” Biden said to cheers.

Ridiculing McCain and Sarah Palin for calling themselves mavericks, Biden said “the sidekicks are gonna find out about Pennsylvania tomorrow. They’re gonna find out.”

AP Photo-Zanesville, OH

ZANESVILLE, OH — Joe Biden thinks his reputation as the “gaffe” candidate is a bunch of malarkey.

Speaking to reporters on his press plane, BIden said the caricature of a VP nominee who’s always hurting the ticket by putting his foot in his mouth just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

“For all the stuff about gaffes, I don’t think there have been any real gaffes. I mean I don’t see anything in your polling data demonstrating any of that stuff you guys love to write about,” he said.

Biden has been ridiculed for minor slips, like telling an elected official to stand up and be recognized without realizing the man is in a wheelchair, to more substantive ones - such as seeming to oppose clean coal in a short rope line conversation, and telling a group of donors that Barack Obama will be “tested” by a generated international crisis within the first 6 months of his administration.

The Delaware Senator denied that any of his fumbles have hurt his party’s chances. “No, I never make any big, big gaffes,” he said. “I mean you guys love saying that about me but I tell you what, just look at the numbers. I don’t have any problem with what I’ve said and there’s nothing I’ve said that I would back off of.”

Biden’s foray to the back of the plane was his first since an off-the-record session on September 9th, which wound up becoming part of an on-the-record AP story. Biden cited that incident as one reason he’s been so reluctant to talk to his traveling press.

But with the election just a day away, the VP nominee addressed everything from uniting the country to his own superstitions about discussing the upcoming election

But Biden was most talkative on the topic of his “good friend” John McCain — first offering an explanation for why he feels the GOP nominee has gone so negative.

(more…)

AP- Lee's Summit, MO

LEE’S SUMMIT, MO — “Hey folks, 37 more hours!”

Joe Biden greeted a crowd primed for the home stretch of this long campaign with as much energy as he’s had in the last two months on the trail - telling voters in this swing state that “change is on the way.”

“I believe, with a greater degree of confidence than I’ve ever had before, that we are on the cusp of a new brand of American leadership. Because that’s what we need,” he said. “We need to get out and elect Barack Obama president of the United States tomorrow.”

Biden argued again that electing McCain would mean four more years of Bush policies — but as is always the case with the Delaware Senator, a routine line delivered hundreds of times on the trail can still be an adventure. “In the most recent debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, John McCain felt the need to say to Barack, to the commentator and to all America that he was not John McCain,” Biden said in a slip-up. “I mean, he was not President Bush.”

As the crowd guffawed, Biden salvaged the line. “The truth is, he’s not the John McCain I served with a long time,” he said. “Freudian slip.”

Less salvageable? The now-expected “Random Biden Introductory Tangent” - this one about his sister, Val, his wife Jill, and Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who introduced the Bidens today.

“You know why I think Jill likes Claire McCaskill so well, Senator McCaskill. Jill is one of five sisters, Claire is one of three sisters. And I tell you what, you women raised with sisters are different than women raised with brothers,” Biden said as both women joined him on stage.

“My sister is smart, runs every one of my campaigns, is beautiful. Graduated with honors from college. Is homecoming queen, but she’s a — she is what I call a girl-boy growing up, you know what I mean?”

“And I tell you what. Girl-girl’s are tougher than girl-boys,” he said.

BIden is off for the working class Ohio towns of Zanesville and Akron, where Obama leads in recent polls by an average of about 4 points.

AP Photo-Gainesville, FL

GAINESVILLE, FL - Joe Biden may be getting a little tired of stories claiming that the campaign is trying to shut him up.

Washington reporters traveling with the loquacious long-time senator over the past few days noted the tight stump speeches, the lack of reporter access or question from the crowd, and the ubiquitous teleprompter - theorizing that Obama’s staff is trying desperately to minimize the damage that comes from Biden’s big mouth.

But in Florida today, Biden interrupted his speech to prove he’s the same old loose cannon he’s always been.

“I believe the possibilities for this country are absolutely amazing — and stop moving the prompter,” he said, abruptly addressing the teleprompter operator, who’d never before worked with Biden and, as one staffer joked, may have dislocated her wrist trying to keep up.

“There’s a prompter that I hardly ever read here. They don’t want you to know that. They put it up to make me sound disciplined, you know,” Biden continued as the crowd — and a few Biden staffers — laughed along with him.

The bravado isn’t backed up by the fact that Biden stuck almost entirely to the same speech he’s been giving for the last 3 days — but there were moments that proved his point.

An example: coming on stage after his introduction, Biden rambled his way through the traditional thank-you’s for local elected officials in remarks that bear reprinting in their entirety.

“I tell you what, I’m a proud University of Delaware alum, we, we won the national championship in our division a couple years ago. But I tell you what. I watched you all Saturday (applause), and I thought thank God, thank God we don’t play the Gators. A Delaware flag, alright man! You guys are on a roll. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! And I want to tell you. I used the rain as an excuse to wear the hat, but the balder I get the more I love hats. I always loved hats.”

AP Photo- Gainesville, FL

GAINESVILLE, FL — Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden will try to snare a little winning mojo in his last campaign rally before election day — appearing in Philadelphia with members of the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Biden is a Phillies fan, though he’s occasionally mispronounced a name (calling closer Brad Lidge “Brad Ledge”) or gotten a fact wrong (saying his wife attended game 6 of the World Series, when in fact the Phillies won in 5). His wife Jill is a die-hard fan - as are certain Philly natives in the traveling press corps — one of whom got a shout-out from Biden spokesman David Wade in announcing the joint appearance.

“A last minute announcement in honor of ABC’s Matt Jaffe: Monday night in Philadelphia, Joe Biden will appear with members of the World Champion Phillies at his last rally of the campaign season,” Wade wrote.

Biden will sleep in his own bed in nearby Wilmington on Monday night, rising early to vote along with his wife and mother. He and his family will then fly to Chicago, with a stopover in a swing state likely in between.

done

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Joe Biden’s first foray into Florida’s more conservative northern regions was met with a group of about 30 very vocal pro-McCain protesters, who disrupted the rally in the shadows of Florida State University’s football stadium from 300 yards away with a constant stream of chants — and a steady siren from a megaphone carried by one of the protesters.

Biden carried on for 5 minutes without mentioning the omnipresent wail, but as he launched into the section of his speech outlining just how John McCain is exactly like George Bush, he couldn’t resist a dig at the protesters’ expense

“The fact of the matter is, maybe those McCain folks can hear this, they’d be interested back there,” Biden said. “They can hear this, I’ll say it loudly as I can.”

“I thought it was a siren, it’s just a whine, I guess,” he continued to laughs. “It’s gonna be okay folks.”

But later, Biden used the protesters as an example of the types of people an Obama administration needs to reach out to in order to unite the country.

“We can’t move past the politics of division unless after this election is over, if God willing we win, we reach out to the people in the outer parking lot,” he said. “I know you find some of that obnoxious, but…, we’ve got to reach out, we’ve got to end this. Somebody’s got to be big enough to stand up and end this.”

“They’re good folks,” he said of the protesters. “They’re committed to John’s notions, but we know what they don’t know. We know that we can do this. This is not some hat trick. This is not something beyond our capacity.”

Biden told the assembled faithful that they could help shut up these protesters and others like them. “If you work with us in the final hours of this campaign all the way through to the polls closing on Tuesday. Not only will we, but they, the people in the parking lot, they’ll be calling Barack Obama something else. They’ll be calling him President Barack Obama,” he said.

AP Photo

BOWLING GREEN, OH — In the final days of the race, where the candidates spend their time says a lot about their prorities.

With just two days to go, Obama is sending his top campaign asset - VP nominee Joe Biden - to the two states that have all but decided the last two presidential elections: Florida and Ohio.

Biden, who’s been tasked with reaching out to white, blue collar workers, Catholics, and Jewish voters, will stump all day Sunday in North Florida - a region of the state that doesn’t get as much attention as the I-4 corridor of Tampa and Orlando, or South Florida’s Miami and West Palm Beach.

Then on Monday, he’s back in working class Ohio, visiting the rust belt town of Akron. He’ll wrap up the night with a rally in Philadephia, where Obama is heavily favored — but which is just minutes away from his home in Wilmington.

On Tuesday, he’s expected to campaign in a swing state in the morning before joining Obama in Chicago for a huge election night rally.