Joe Biden

Well, the text went out from the Obama campaign last night at 1AM Pacific Time, but those of you like me that have no life, noticed that ABC first reported it at approximately 9:30PM, with all of the major media outlets quickly following suit. It's official: Delaware Senator Joe Biden will be the vice presidential nominee for the Democratic ticket. The Obama campaign would probably have wished to control this message, and to many it was anti-climactic that the campaign was beaten to their own announcement, but sometimes you just can't underestimate the competitive and hungry nature of the modern mainstream media.
The two will be appearing together in about 30 mins. at the old state capitol in Springfield, Il for the first time and I think the majority of democrats will feel energized about the pick, and as an old tough Irish-catholic candidate, he's a demographic dream and could assuage some voters' concerns about Obama's lack of experience, one thing to think about though, is that Biden has been a United States Senator since Obama was 11 years old and I bet this point will be brought up more than once by the media.
Like I did with Romney a couple of days ago I'll list Joe Biden's pluses and minuses.

Pros

-- Old. White. Catholic.

-- Will be an excellent surrogate for the campaign, and is a good debater, whoever McCain picks will be hard pressed to try and match Biden on this front.

-- Experience, experience, experience. Chairman of both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (he's been to Iraq 8 times) and the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has relationships with many foreign dignitaries and leaders.

-- Despite his experience and time in Washington, he's still seen by both the media and many of his colleagues as "part of Washington but not of it," which could help reinforce part of Obama's message.

-- The press loves him.

-- Seen by all as a "safe choice" and there won't be media speculation as to whether he was risky or not.

-- Has a good story to tell.

Cons

-- Has been described many times as "verbose" and has been called a "gaffe machine."

-- For a campaign that puts so much emphasis on stagecraft, Biden does nothing to help the visuals of the ticket and the two may look awkward together onstage due to their lopsided age difference.

-- May have a problem taking orders and playing the no. 2 spot. Loyalty hasn't been proven yet.

-- Has a lot of archival footage saying controversial things about Obama that will be relished by Republicans.

-- Voted for the resolution that started the Iraq War, which Obama himself has referred to as "the one test of judgment in a generation."

-- Has a long friendship with John McCain and lobbied John Kerry hard in 2004 to put McCain on that ticket, this point will also be relished by Republicans.

-- Won't do anything to help with Hillary Clinton supporters that still feel bitter and stung after the primary.