Chances of running into one of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden’s family members on the campaign trail grew exponentially when the national campaign recently shifted focus on its Iowa effort. The Biden family’s political business has been in operation for 36 years, since Joe Biden first ran for senator in Delaware.

Joe’s youngest sister, Valerie, helped run his 1972 campaign bid against a popular Republican incumbent, Sen. J. Caleb Boggs, whom Biden defeated at age 29, becoming the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history. Valerie Biden-Owens has run every campaign for her brother Joe during his 37-year political career, so it’s not surprising that she’s serving as Joe’s national chairwoman in his current presidential bid. While the rest of Biden’s family members commute back and forth to Iowa to campaign, Valerie has set up shop in Iowa, where she intends to help ramp up the campaign’s efforts.

Meanwhile, Joe’s wife, Jill, and his two sons, Beau and Hunter, have been crisscrossing the state, where they’ve been retail politicking on behalf of Joe. The Bidens have popped up at meet-and-greets, Democratic fund-raisers, rallies and other campaign events, including the Johnson County Democrats’ Barbeque in Iowa City (see picture below).

To read the interview and view the video with the Bidens at the barbeque fund-raiser on Oct. 6, read below the fold.Iowa Independent: The Bidens have shifted gears and are putting more focus on campaigning in Iowa. Why the shift and what have been some of your experiences while campaigning in Iowa?

Beau: This is the way we’ve done it for 34 years. Iowa reminds us of home. Even though it’s a much bigger state than ours, you have to remember that there’s only about 125,000 caucus-goers and 99 counties, so you can actually get around and actually meet a lot of these people.
We’re used to going around and knocking on doors, spending time at peoples’ kitchen tables, and we think this works to my father’s advantage. Once you get to know my father, you get to like, if not love him. On top of that, he’s the most qualified person in the race to be president. We see Iowa as a strategic advantage for us, starting with the great people here in Iowa.

Iowa Independent: Regarding the poll numbers, do you think Senator Biden is going to get some more traction or a bump now that you’ve shifted your strategy to focus more on Iowa?

Hunter: (Watch Adam Burke’s video below)

Jill: Joe is the only one who can bring together the red states and the blue states. He’s known for bringing the Democrats and Republicans together.

Iowa Independent: What role did you play in Senator Biden’s decision to make another run for president?

Jill: Actually, we got together and we went to Joe and we said we think you are the only one who can win the presidency. We want you to run and win.

Beau: The bottom line is that our dad and mom have been great parents to us. I only hope that, as a father, I can be half as good at raising my children.

The reality is that I would rather have my dad down the street from me, where he could give me advice on how to put my 18-month-old to bed, than out on the campaign trail. There’s something just as important here, and that’s the future of our country and our world.

Hunter: There’s another reason I’m here, and when I say this, I want you to know that I’m not pandering. You know what made the decision easier? It’s Iowa. We were here in 1987 and that was not an easy time for us. What made it much easier for us deciding to run again is the loyalty and the love of people here in Iowa. We’ve kept in touch with these same folks for 20 years. They have stood behind my dad, and more importantly, they stood behind us, and that means a lot to me and my family

Hunter and Jill Biden Campaigning in Iowa (Johnson County Democrats’ BBQ)

Earlier in the evening the family took the stage on behalf of Joe, with Beau speaking on behalf of his father, who was in New Hampshire delivering the keynote address at the Coos County Democrats Harry S. Truman Dinner. This is not the first time Beau, the attorney general of Delaware, has stumped for his father in Iowa.

Donning his military hat, figuratively speaking of course, Beau stumped at the Iowa Democratic Party Veterans’ Caucus Presidential Extravaganza in Des Moines in June. Beau is a captain in the Delaware National Guard, which is scheduled to deploy to Iraq early next year. Speaking as a military member, Beau made the case why his father would be the most qualified to be president in 2009, touting the candidate’s foreign policy experience and why Democrats can ill-afford to nominate a candidate who cannot pass the “national security test.” (see video below).

Drawing on these same themes, Beau added a familial dimension to his stump speech in Johnson County as he went to bat for his father. “Let me tell you about him, because I know Iowans want to meet the candidates once, twice, and kick the tires to what mettle and grit you have,” Beau told the audience, which was packed in the swine barn on the Johnson County fairgrounds. “Let me tell you about what grit and mettle my father has. In 1972, my father was elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first Senator he had ever met. He ran to end the war in Vietnam and continue the Civil Rights movement. But like a lot of us who has experienced great triumph comes great tragedy sometimes.”

At this point, Beau’s speech replayed the events surrounding the tragic accident in 1972, which took the life of Beau’s 14-month old sister and his mother, Neilia, when the car they were riding in was struck by a tractor-trailer truck. Beau and Hunter were also in the car and Beau was hospitalized after the accident. On Dec. 18 of that year, just as the newly elected Sen. Joe Biden was about to take office for the first time, he got a phone call from home about the accident back home. “My dad left Washington that day thinking he would never return, telling the Sen. Majority leader Mike Mansfield that Delaware can get another senator, but my boys can’t get another dad.”

“He came back to Wilmington and stayed at my bedside until January 3rd the following year, when he was to be sworn in in Washington. He refused to go to Washington,” Beau continued. “Men like Hubert Humphrey and Ted Kennedy, me who had been tested in their own right, convinced him to give a shot for sixth months. The next day they sent the secretary of the senate and my dad was sworn in at my bedside.”

“My dad has been at my side and my brother’s side for 34 years since then. We met my mom and we got remarried and my mom and dad rebuilt our family. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, this is what he can do for our country. Provide hope when there sometimes isn’t and provide comfort and leadership when there isn’t any,” Beau said. “I don’t tell you this story to gain sympathy, for I know everyone in this room has a similar experience. I tell you that because it’s those personal tests that Iowans want to know about, because they serve as indicators as to how you will perform as president.”

Beau Biden: Who passes the Commander-in-Chief test? (video shot by Adam Burke at Johnson County Democrats’ Barbeque)