Advertisement

Biden warns against GOP’s O’Donnell, urges Democrats to campaign hard

Share

Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that the Republican candidate running for his old Senate seat in Delaware would take Congress back to an era of GOP control “on steroids,” telling Democratic volunteers that the race is not a slam dunk for their candidate and to campaign “as serious as you possibly can.”

Without naming upstart “tea party” candidate Christine O’Donnell directly, Biden told volunteers in his home state to expect a rough-and-tumble final weeks toward the November election and stressed the support his family, including his son, Beau, are giving Democrat Chris Coons.

“Do not take this lightly,” Biden said during a stop at a Democratic Party campaign office in Wilmington. “Gird your loins for anything… It’s not likely to be a straightforward debate.”

Advertisement

Beau Biden had once been the Democrats’ hope to run for the seat long held by his father, until being elected vice president in 2008. But the younger Biden declined, opting to seek another term this fall as the state’s attorney general.

The vice president gave a hearty endorsement of Coons, the New Castle County executive, saying he valued “his independence, his intelligence and his gut.”

“I am enthusiastically for — have been enthusiastically for — this genuinely independent guy,” Biden said. “My son, Beau, my sister, my whole family are ready to work and do everything we can.”

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Advertisement