Analysis: Biden crafting new image as a behind-the-scenes party healer

DENVER - Joseph Biden, who accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president Wednesday night, has quietly become a very popular pick among rank-and-file Democrats.

While Democrats' affection for Biden is nothing new, his ability to do anything with subtlety is. He's legendary in insider circles for taking long and winding verbal roads on the way to making his point.

But as he prepared to officially join ticket mate Barack Obama, his image began to change from the mouth that roars to discreet partner -- publicly mum all week -- and behind-the-scenes healer and loyal partisan.

Perhaps most important for the Democratic Party, the nomination of the six-term senator from Delaware has brought together supporters of Obama and his vanquished rival, Hillary Clinton.

'He covers a lot of bases'

"I'm very content with Biden," said Dean Boerste, a Clinton delegate from Tell City, Ind. "He's done a lot for working-class people, and he has a lot of great foreign-policy experience."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., summed up the mood: "Biden covers a lot of bases," he said.

"Over his 35 years in Washington, Senator Biden has been a reflexive liberal on every single economic issue," said Pat Toomey, the president of the Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax advocacy group.

Wednesday, the third day of the Democratic National Convention, was largely a time for the party to heal. Hillary Clinton's address Tuesday seemed to calm her disappointed delegates, and they got a final hurrah from a Wednesday afternoon roll-call vote for nominees -- including Clinton -- and a highly anticipated evening address by former President Bill Clinton.

In Denver, the party promoted the idea that a new team was carrying the Democratic banner, with Biden, the veteran Senate debater who's twice run for president himself, preparing to launch verbal grenades at Republicans.

Influence and gaffes

He's had lots of practice.

More recently, Biden has chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has gained respect for his expertise and personal engagement in world affairs. He worked closely with his Republican counterpart, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, to make the panel influential in forging U.S. foreign policy.

Biden provided important support for President Bush in 2002 when Bush sought broad authority to wage war in Iraq. Biden has since become a vocal critic of the war, offering a widely praised plan in 2006 for carving Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions.

Outside the Capitol, he may be best-known for his flights of oratory -- and his gaffes. He tried to compliment Obama last year by calling him "articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," a comment that many saw as patronizing.

Republicans were quick this week to launch an ad featuring Biden saying that he didn't think that Obama was ready to be president, a quote from a debate when Biden was contesting Obama for the Democratic nomination. Then Biden is shown saying on the Senate floor that he'd be "honored to run with or against John McCain."

None of that seems to bother Democrats this week.