Biden attacks 'seven homes' McCain

Barack Obama's newly-minted vice presidential candidate turned his campaign debut into a scathing attack on Republicans seeking four more years in the White House.

Before a crowd of thousands spilling out from the front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, Mr Obama said Joe Biden was "what many others pretend to be - a statesman with sound judgment who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong" - a thinly veiled reference to his Republican rival John McCain.

However, Mr Biden was much more blunt in going after McCain. The Delaware senator did not hesitate to refer to Mr McCain's recent tactless admission - in a time of economic uncertainty - that he was not sure how many homes he owned.

Mr McCain would have to "figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at" when considering his own economic future, said Mr Biden, 65, jabbing at the man he called his personal friend.

In choosing Delaware senator Mr Biden to be his running mate, Mr Obama turned to a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and national security issues to help blunt Republican criticism on his lack of experience in these areas.

Mr Obama, a relative newcomer on the national political scene, made history by becoming the first black candidate to lead a major US political party's presidential ticket.

Polls indicate a highly competitive race at the end of a summer in which Mr McCain eroded what had been Mr Obama's slender advantage in the national surveys.

McCain, a veteran Arizona senator and former Vietnam prisoner of war, has attacked Mr Obama relentlessly over his readiness to serve as commander in chief and handle foreign policy crises such as the recent Russian invasion of Georgia.

The first-term Illinois senator's choice of running mate, who he described as a man "ready to step in and be president" is clearly intended to counter some of that criticism.

Mr Biden is a 35-year Senate veteran and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Democrats quickly rallied round 47-year-old Mr Obama's selection of Mr Biden, while Republicans recycled the senator's less-than-favourable past descriptions of Mr Obama during the Democratic primary campaign.

Mr Biden emerged as Mr Obama's choice after a secretive selection process that included at least six contenders - but evidently not Hillary Clinton, the former first lady who was Mr Obama's tenacious rival during primaries and caucuses.

Mrs Clinton issued a statement calling Mr Biden "an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant".

Mr McCain telephoned Mr Biden, his long-time Senate colleague, to congratulate him, Mr McCain's campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

Mr McCain's campaign wasted no time trying to turn the selection to Mr Obama's disadvantage.

It quickly produced a television ad featuring Mr Biden's previous praise for Mr McCain and comments critical of Mr Obama.

In an ABC News television interview last year, Mr Biden had said he stood by an earlier statement that Mr Obama was not yet ready to be president and "the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training".

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said.

But some of Mr Biden's Republican colleagues in the Senate praised the Delaware Democrat. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska called him "the right partner for Barack Obama" and the decision "good news for Obama and America".

The Democratic National Convention opens tomorrow to nominate Mr Obama as president and Mr Biden as vice president, the ticket that Democrats hope to ride into the White House after eight years of Republican rule.

Meanwhile former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, whose speech Mr Biden infamously plagiarised said he welcomed the senator's selection as Mr Obama's running mate.

Mr Biden's admission that he had borrowed heavily from a speech by Lord Kinnock, using one of his anecdotes as his own during a 1987 debate, drew questions about his honesty, raised a host of plagiarism claims, and eventually forced the senator to abandon the 1988 US presidential race.

But Kinnock, now president of Cardiff University, told the BBC that he and Mr Biden were now friends and praised the senator's foreign-policy acumen.

"(Mr Biden) is a man of immense maturity and unmatched in the Senate, and probably much more widely, as an analyst and advocate in the foreign policy and defence policy areas," Kinnock said. "Even his enemies acknowledge his outstanding expertise."