Program Note: Tune in to AC360° at 10p ET tonight for the latest on the war of words between Cheney and Biden.
Dugald McConnell
CNN Producer
Vice President Dick Cheney will soon be handing the Vice Presidency over to Joe Biden, but not before first questioning whether the newcomer is up to the job of filling his shoes.
This Sunday, Cheney, who has had unprecedented influence on policy, was asked about reports that his successor sees the scope of the office differently from the way Cheney does.
“If he wants to diminish the office of vice president, that’s obviously his call,” Cheney answered. “I think that President-elect Obama will decide what he wants in a vice president. And apparently, from the way they’re talking about it, he does not expect him to have as consequential a role as I’ve had during my time.”
Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander fired back:
“Only Vice President Cheney would think that putting the Vice Presidency in its proper constitutional role “diminishes” the office. What the American people want from a Vice President is not boasting about how much power they have, but rather, a promise to use that power for the right purposes.
But Biden told CNN’s Larry King Monday that he does still expect to have the president’s ear.
“My role as vice president is unlike some of the others. I’ve asked for no specific portfolio - that is, I take care of the environment or one particular area - and that I be essentially his counselor-in-chief.”
The shape of any vice presidency is driven more by the president’s wishes than the vice president’s, says Prof. Stephen Wayne of Georgetown. “In his first year, the president said Dick Cheney has a lot of power. That’s what I want: I’m delegating a lot to him. I don’t think Barack Obama is going to delegate that much to Joe Biden.”
Program Note: Tune in to AC360 tonight at 10p ET for more on the Obama Administration’s plans for the economy and VP-elect Biden’s role.
Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent
CNN has learned that Vice President-elect Joe Biden will chair a meeting of the transition team’s top economic advisers on Tuesday, as the incoming administration ramps up its efforts to piece together an urgent economic recovery package and try to sell the expected $775 billion plan to Congress.
Two Democratic officials told CNN the meeting at the Washington transition headquarters will include Lawrence Summers, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to chair the National Economic Council, a key policymaking arm within the White House that will be charged with formulating the new administration’s response to the financial crisis.
The fact that Biden is leading the meeting suggests the incoming Vice President will play a key role in helping to pass the stimulus package. That’s significant because Biden’s low profile in recent days has sparked speculation that he will be sidelined in the new administration, especially since his strongest asset — foreign policy — is going to be largely handled by Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton.
But Biden himself said during the campaign that he was not seeking any specific task, and would not cut as wide a swatch as Vice President Cheney. Instead Biden said during the vice presidential debate that he would focus more broadly on using his four decades of experience in the U.S. Senate helping Obama govern by move legislation through Congress.
“I have a history of getting things done in the United States Senate,” Biden said during his one debate with Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. “John McCain would acknowledge that. My record shows that, on controversial issues. I would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the United States Congress for our administration.”
After being conspicuously quiet in the early weeks of the transition, Biden is suddenly raising his profile to selling an expensive economic plan to lawmakers suffering from sticker shock after one government bailout after another. He appeared on his first Sunday talk show as Vice President-elect this wekeend by going on ABC’s “This Week” to declare that bolder action is needed now to prevent the economoy from “absolutely tanking” at this point.
A CNN poll determines that more Americans think the Bidens should’ve chosen a shelter dog.
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Ted Barrett and Kate Bolduan
CNN Capitol Hill Unit
The appointment of Ted Kaufman to temporarily fill the Senate seat of Vice President-elect Joe Biden fits into a much speculated scenario that has Biden and other key players in Delaware paving the way for Biden’s son Beau to one day win his father’s seat.
Kaufman, a long time close aide to the older Biden, announced immediately after being appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, D, that he would not run to complete the 6 year term when a special election is held in two years. That clears the way for Beau Biden, who is Delaware’s attorney general, to run without the difficulty of having to challenge an incumbent Democrat.
Beau Biden might have been appointed to the seat now except that he is deployed with his National Guard unit for the next several months in Iraq.
Joe Biden is “keeping the track open for his son to take the seat,” said an aide to Delaware Lt. Gov. John Carney, a contender for the appointment who was passed over.
The senior Biden issued a statement Monday saying “it is no secret” he thinks Beau would be a great senator and praised his son for announcing last week that he would decline a possible appointment in order to fulfill his military obligation.
VP-elect Biden said anyone who runs in the special election will do so from a “level playing field.”
And while that may be true, the decision by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, D, to select a place-holder does hold open an opportunity for Beau Biden that probably would not have existed if his father wasn’t the sitting senator.
Jack Gray
AC360 Associate Producer
Well, it’s about time. Now that the presidential election is over America can return its focus to that which is truly important. For example, perhaps you’ve been so caught up in politics that you didn’t know Jennifer Aniston is on the cover of next month’s Vogue. And inside the magazine she discusses her new Christmas movie: “It’s a Wonderful Life…Until Angelina Jolie Steals Your Husband.”
Then there’s Lindsay “Hey Anderson Cooper, if you think my mother is a trainwreck just wait until you hear my political analysis” Lohan, who offered her take on the election to that venerable chronicler of American history known as Access Hollywood. “It’s an amazing thing,” she said, “it’s our first colored president.” Thanks, Archie Bunker. You can stop talking now.
Jack Gray
AC360 Associate Producer
So I was talking to a woman on the subway this morning, via hologram of course. What, you actually still talk to people in person? You are so November 3rd. Anyway, no, I told her – there is no truth to the rumor that the Obamas are going to name their new dog Jeremiah Hussein Ayers. Although I do think that’d be a cute name for a Beagle.
Anyway, it’s finally over. Now can we please get back to the important things? I know I’m not the only one who wants an update on the singing career of Elliot Spitzer’s favorite prostitute.
Oh right, there’s the whole transition thing. The time-honored prelude to the peaceful handover of power. And by prelude I mean making sure the new president will have enough staplers.
Then, of course, President-elect Obama has to choose his cabinet. Note to self: No need to refill Ambien prescription for the week John Kerry has his Secretary of State confirmation hearings.
For his part, John McCain will humbly return to the Senate. And then to his seven homes and thirteen cars.
The best thing about being president, I think, is all the cool modes of transportation. Like Marine One, the presidential helicopter. Which is almost as nice as the helicopter Anderson takes to work everyday.
Bob Shrum
TheWeek.com
In 2000, when we were discussing vice-presidential choices with Al Gore, my partner Tad Devine conceded that Joe Lieberman would be an immediate hit; but he believed Lieberman would prove a long-term bust. He told Gore: “What you need is Mr. October, not Mr. August.”
Barack Obama got both when he picked Sen. Joe Biden. The Delaware Democrat immediately demonstrated that he was a happy warrior who could take the fight to McCain, stand up for Obama and connect with blue-collar voters and Catholics. Yet by late October, the conventional wisdom strangely had turned, devaluing Biden’s role and his appeal, and reporting that the supposedly gaffe-prone candidate had been hidden away after stating that Obama would be “tested” by a foreign crisis in his first few months in office.
Reporters have focused far more attention on Joe the Plumber than on Joe the Veep, Joe the Validator, Joe the Defender, Joe the Political Partner. McCain, who probably shouldn’t mention V.P. picks outside a confessional, scoffed at Biden last weekend as “the gift that keeps on giving”—despite the fact that Biden has helped deliver constituents and states and, hours from now, will help deliver the Presidency itself to Barack Obama. Standing behind McCain on the stage as he spoke, a sour-looking Cindy McCain didn’t even crack a smile. I suspect she knows the reality—of the race and of the value of the respective running mates.
Editor’s Note: The following report comes to us from a pool reporter on the campaign trail with Sen. Joseph Biden. We share his latest dispatch:
John Broder
New York Times
Senator Biden stopped at a Kilwin’s ice cream and candy shop in a shopping mall in The Villages, a huge residential complex near Lady Lake, Fla. Before he entered the shop, he stopped at gallery next door and signed the back of a painting of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson speaking with some of their aides. We couldn’t hear any of his remarks.
Once inside the sweet shop, he ordered a single dip of chocolate chip on a sugar cone from Marilyn Fennell, who was working behind the counter. He then visited with a number of customers who crammed into the store.
It was difficult to make out much of the banter, but at one point he declared to someone, “I’m Joe - not the plumber - Joe the Biden.” He asked one of the patrons, “Did ya vote already?” She replied that she had. “I love ya,” he said and kissed her on the cheek.
Jack Gray
AC360 Associate Producer
Ah, democracy springs eternal. We’re already seeing it with early voting, for which Americans are turning out in record numbers. I walked by a long line the other day in midtown Manhattan and thought I might as well try to get a fresh story for AC360. But I got some strange looks from people – a few even ran away – when I asked if they wanted to appear on CNN to discuss what they were going to do when they got inside the booth. It turns out it was a line to get into a peep show.
I was finishing up a shopping trip to Saks Fifth Avenue today with Sarah Palin, about to go meet Joe Biden for his botox consultation, when it hit me. No, I didn’t forget to polish Anderson’s Emmys. Trust me, one does not make that mistake twice. What hit me is that Halloween is just a week away and I still haven’t decided on my costume. I’ve narrowed it down to either Tony Danza or Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.
Joe Klein
TIME.com
Barack Obama has prospered in this presidential campaign because of the steadiness of his temperament and the judicious quality of his decision-making. They are his best-known qualities. The most important decision he has made — the selection of a running mate — was done carefully, with an exhaustive attention to detail and contemplation of all the possible angles. Two months later, as John McCain’s peremptory selection of Governor Sarah Palin has come to seem a liability, it could be argued that Obama’s quiet selection of Joe Biden defined the public’s choice in the general-election campaign.
But not every decision can be made so carefully. There are a thousand instinctive, instantaneous decisions that a presidential candidate has to make in the course of a campaign — like whether to speak his mind to a General Petraeus — and this has been a more difficult journey for Obama, since he’s far more comfortable when he’s able to think things through. “He has learned to trust his gut,” an Obama adviser told me. “He wasn’t so confident in his instincts last year. It’s been the biggest change I’ve seen in him.”
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