Biden on the Rise--We hope for a Jan. 3 surprise!: Go Joe!

My man Joe Biden has been coming up in the polls in Iowa. And he has been running the campaign he wants to run. No pundits sway him. No focus groups urge him to soften or harden his image. He is who is is--the most experience, level-headed, action oriented, plain speaking, humor-invoking guy in the race. If you have not already checked out the videos and blog at www.joebiden.com, please do and make up your own mind. He isn't perfect. I think he needs to expand his plans for immigration and his policies toward Latin America as a whole, but damn--he his right--we have to get Iraq out of the way first. And we have to do it in a thoughtful, responsible, pro-active way. And we have to take care of the troops coming home and we have to take care of the working and middle class people of this country in a real way. Their standing in this nation is what sets us apart from the Third World.

Finally, too Joe is getting some national press. There was a great piece on him in the New York Times this past week, outlining his personal story with all the tragedy and challenges that he has overcome and come out better for it, I might add. It stated what those of us who follow his campaign have known all along. He is his own man and he is running the campaign he wants to run--no matter what.

The L.A. Times featured a piece on its front page this week about a volunteer caucus organizer in Iowa, Teri Hawks Goodmann, who is supporting Biden. She is a die-hard supporter and she knows her stuff. She is doing everything she can to get Biden where he needs to be on caucus night--January 3rd. The way the Biden campaign figures it, if he can place 3rd in the caucuses, he can make it to the White House and me, I have to believe it, too.

That would probably mean bumping John Edwards off, and that will be hard, because he has been organizing in Iowa since the last go round in 2004 and he got a lot of people out to caucus then. But, who knows, maybe Obama will go down? He can get people out to see Oprah, but will that translate to getting people out to caucus?

Go Joe!