NEWSMAKER: Biden, an ex-rising star with a new shot at glory
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joe Biden made his first run for the U.S. presidency in 1987 as a error-prone wunderkind. A powerful orator, Biden flashed brilliance. But he also had a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth and fell far short.
Today, polls show, a more steady and seasoned Biden, 65, appears headed toward helping America's new political star, Barack Obama, 47, become president.
"Twenty years ago, Joe Biden wasn't ready for prime time," said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
"He's become more disciplined. He's widely respected. He still isn't someone who measures his every word. But he's been a big plus for the campaign," Ornstein said.
As Obama's vice presidential running mate, Biden, a 35-year veteran of the Senate, has been widely hailed as an effective advocate for the Democratic ticket.
But he is prone to making an occasional gaffe and has failed to spark the excitement and draw the big crowds of his Republican rival, Sarah Palin, Alaska's first-term governor.
Still, however, polls show most Americans believe Biden, unlike Palin, is qualified for the job, and think that he defeated her in their only debate.
Like many members of the Senate, often referred to as "the world's most exclusive club," Biden is seen as long-winded and having a big ego. But he has made it clear he knows where his place would be in an Obama White House: behind the president.
"Every major decision he'll be making, I'll be sitting in the room to give my best advice," Biden said in his debate with Palin. Biden added, "He's president, not me."
In an interview with the New Yorker, Biden said he told Obama he expected to be a player in his administration if he agreed to be his running mate.
"I said, 'Barack, look, if you're going to ask me to do this, please don't ask me for any other reason than you respect my judgment,'" Biden was quoted as saying in the magazine's October 20 issue.
"'I don't want to be a vice president who is not part of the major decisions you make,'" Biden said he told Obama.
LONG SENATE CAREER
Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, shortly before he turned 30, the minimum age. A month later, his wife and daughter were killed and two sons injured in a car crash. Biden considered giving up his Senate seat but party leaders helped persuade him to serve. He remarried five years later.
In 1987, Biden made his first bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, Biden was considered a rising star.
Despite high hopes and strong performances, Biden dropped out after a number of missteps. They included exaggerating his academic record and having to admit that in some of his campaign speeches he had used lines from others, including British politician Neal Kinnock, without giving them credit.
Biden returned to the Senate determined.
"No matter how long it took me, I was going to demonstrate that the mistakes that forced me to withdraw from the presidential race did not, would not, define me," Biden wrote in his 2007 autobiography, "Promises to Keep."
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden presided over two of the most highly contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings ever. Robert Bork was rejected in 1987, while another conservative, Clarence Thomas, was narrowly confirmed in 1991.
Biden has also chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he has worked with and challenged presidents of both parties.
He initially backed President George W. Bush's Iraq war but has since become a leading critic of it and has joined Obama in calling for a withdrawal of American troops.
Obama picked Biden his running mate after months of complaints by Republicans as well as some Democrats that Obama lacked the experience needed to be president. Biden was one of those who made the point, back when he challenged the Illinois senator for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Biden eventually became an Obama backer, and once Obama picked him as his running mate in August, Biden also became his chief attack dog and leading cheerleader.
He initially prefaced biting remarks about Republican presidential nominee John McCain by referring to his Senate colleague of 22 years as "my friend, John." But when McCain questioned Obama's character, Biden called him "an angry man" and accused him of trying to "take the low road to the highest office in the land."
(Editing by David Alexander and David Wiessler)
