The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 2

A2 The News-Journal papers Wednesday, June 10, 1987 Quest for the White House iden, the issue is children For 5 it iiiiiiiii mm. m. I aaswHiw 1 vv iTrij" sa-fn fr a.UiMnki a Continued from Al While Biden, a veteran of almost 15 years in the U.S. Senate, has raised more money than any other Democrat well over $2 million by latest estimates he is at the bottom of the public opinion polls. Nationally, he is the choice of 3 percent or 4 percent of Democrats, and in Iowa, the site of the February 1988 presidential caucuses, Biden is the choice of 1 percent.

The current front-runner is the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who hasn't officially declared his candidacy. "Other candidates for the Democratic nomination include Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, former Arizona Gov.

Bruce Babbitt, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois. Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee is to enter the race this month.

On the train ride to Washington that followed Biden's Wilmington speech, campaign treasurer Edward E. Kaufman and a top political adviser, John Marttila, offered the national news media an impromptu defense of Biden's campaign. Low poll numbers are inevitable now, they maintained, a result of low name recognition and a decision to concentrate on raising money and securing a cadre of supporters from the ranks of elected Democrats rather than average vpters. The next few months will show a "gradual but steady" rise in the polls, Marttila insisted. Biden's speech encompassed an issue possibly never raised with I I JOSEPH R.

BIDEN JR. JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. 1 Staff photo by Chuck McGowen Ironworker John egginson of New Castle has an uncluttered view of the scene from the construction site of Three Christina Centre. PERSONAL: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.

was born Nov. 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pa. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware in 1965, and a law degree from Syracuse University in 1968. His first wife, Neilia, and a daughter, Amy, were killed in an automobile accident shortly after he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972.

In 1977, Biden married Jill Tracy Jacobs of Willow Grove, Pa. They have three children: two sons by Biden's first marriage, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, 18, and Hunter Biden, 17; and a daughter, Ashley, 6. CAREER: After graduating from law school Biden joined a Wilmington law firm, and two years later, in 1970, was elected to a seat on the New Castle County Council. In 1972, in an upset victory against a longtime Republican incumbent, Biden went to the U.S.

Senate as the second-youngest member ever elected. POLITICS: Biden has been elected to three terms, and is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and previously served more than nine years on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He is considered one of the Democratic Party's best speakers, and it was that oratorical skill which first brought him political prominence. Biden has a liberal voting record in the Senate, but is running a campaign aimed at the center of the Democratic spectrum.

such emphasis by a presidential candidate children. "It is a risk," said Patrick H. Cad-dell, a longtime Biden adviser, pollster and political theorist. It was meant to show that "the campaign has a purpose," Caddell added. Caddell was referring to Biden's lengthy and passionate declaration that America's children deserve a better life, and a better future, than adults are offering.

"No problem in our country is more urgent and more critical than the physical and moral plight of our children," Biden said in his speech. "A child born today in the heart of an American inner city has less chance of surviving the first year of life than a child born in Cuba or Kuwait." "The great question" that the campaign is posing, Caddell said, is whether Americans are willing to make a commitment to the people at the margins of society, and whether they'll choose a candidate whose administration would emphasize issues quite different from those of the Reagan government. Biden aides believe voters are looking for that, and that Biden can combine a realistic outline of the nation's problems with a convincing declaration of optimism that Americans can fix what is wrong. Biden acknowledged that he faces a tough fight from fellow Democrats. He recalled the 1972 campaign that ended in the upset victory which first sent him to the U.S.

Senate. "I ask you once again to join me, this time in an even more arduous and improbable quest, for you are my friends and this is my home," Biden said. He also said the Biden candor some call it brashness is something voters will hear more of. "Fifteen years ago we said that the key to restoring confidence in our traditions and our institutions was public officials who would stand up and tell the people exactly what they thought. To paraphrase what I said on that day, 'I mean to be that The best example of that stance came toward the end of the speech, when Biden again declared that government's ability to effect change is limited, and that his campaign will seek to change the attitudes of ordinary citizens.

"As president I would attempt to tell the American people the truth: That no protectionist trade law can solve our economic problems when their workers work harder, their managers manage better, and their goods and services are of a higher quality. It is a bitter truth, but one that must be told and faced." In the 21-minute speech a moderate length for Biden he offered no specifics of the "difficult path" he is asking Americans to follow. Some of those specifics have been offered elsewhere. But Biden did offer a sharp critique of economic policy under President Reagan. He called on voters to reject "the easy path in which we consolidate our current comfort and a quick and false prosperity by consuming our children's future." Instead, he urged them to take "another, more-difficult path that builds genuine prosperity for ourselves, while guaranteeing to our children their birthright." "If we choose the easy path, raiding the nation's stores and devouring the seed corn of our children, we will deliver them a lesser America, the fading shadow of our dimming promise." Biden also offered a taste of his "new economic nationalism." "Nor am I satisfied to accept the idea that we should be competitive, which is the new political rage in Washington.

To say that we want to be 'competitive' acknowledges that we are already losing. I am not interested in losing. I want America to win." Biden said he opposed a trade strategy based only on protectionism, that he opposed deployment of the Star Wars missile defense system, and that he'd take a tougher line on environmental protection. Biden was introduced by Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, co-chairman of Biden's national presidential campaign committee and Senate chairman of the Iran-Cpntra panel.

Inouye may have gotten off the best one-liner of the day when he said, "I left Fawn Hall in Washington to be here with Joe Biden." Inouye offered a tough speech, sharply critical of the Reagan administration and immensely positive in his description of Biden. Biden is "not double-dealing and weasel-mouthed we've had enough of that," Inouye said, adding: "This nation needs a president with a family." better than the one in Wilmington. From Washington, Biden, about 20 reporters and a plane filled with supporters and fund-raisers from Delaware, New York, Washington and California flew to Des Moines, Iowa. Today, they were to fly to Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Boston; and Nashua, New Hampshire. Inouye repeated his speech in Washington, where in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building Biden introduced supportive congressmen, lead by Rep.

Peter Rodino, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Biden later said the Washington version of his speech was delivered mm Kl 11 makes wi the diiierence. I- 1 ssV 30 off men's soft leather casuals from Nunn Bush a 1) 111 llll I Staff photo by Chuck McGowen Biden turns to embrace his wife, Jill, after announcing that he is seeking the 1988 Democratic nomination for president. Tuesday, about an F-15 crash in Virginia, incorrectly identified it as a single-engine fighter. To comment about the accuracy, fairness or adequacy of news coverage, call the public editor, 573-2142, between 8:30 a.m.

and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. From lower Delaware and other states call toll free, 1-800-235-9100. A Monday News-Journal story failed to make clear that a suit against Gus P. and Marjorie Scaran, Diane Fulginiti and First State Exterminator Inc.

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