.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Twenty years after his first run for president, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is back on the campaign trail. He’s lagging behind less experienced Democratic contenders in both dollars and poll numbers, but is just as exuberant as the fresher faces and even more forward-leaning on national security issues, giving him a real possibility of slipping into the top tier come caucus night Jan. 3.

Biden is a mixed bag of political experience – he’s been in the United States Senate since 1973 – and foreign policy expertise – he is currently chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – and adds to the mix a lively personality and a propensity for verbal blunders.

The latest faux pas, which almost buried his candidacy before it even began, occurred shortly after he announced, when he referred to Barack Obama as the first “articulate, bright and clean” African-American to run for the White House. Biden later apologized, but as Richard Cohen of the Washington Post opined, Biden’s candidacy might be endangered by his “manic-obsessive running of the mouth.”

Whether Biden is entertaining a journalist without editing or reciting a line from one of his favorite Irish poets at the close of a campaign stump speech, he remains a serious candidate for president. Iowa Demo-crats are increasingly warming to him as he combs the countryside hunting for speaking venues and votes.

Stepping up to the podium at a recent Biofuels event in Ames, Biden flashed his mischievous toothy grin and seemed younger than his 64 years. Trim, energetic and clearly enjoying the campaign process, Biden garnered more applause than any other candidate speaking to the assembled farmers, teachers and Iowa State University professors.

I caught up with Sen. Biden during several campaign events and asked him a series of questions, some of them supplied by Business Record readers and staff.

Q: You’re Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and you know the players in Pakistan personally. What would you do about the Pakistan crisis if you were president?

Biden: Look, (President Gen. Pervez) Musharraf is not an independent actor. Musharraf is in a situation where it matters to the military if they have the P3s and F16s (the United States has promised to sell P3 and F16 aircraft to Pakistan), and I would make it clear that if he is going to continue to keep martial law in place and not hold these parliamentary elections, I’d make it clear I would withhold these sales. Because I think you’re going to see a lot of pressure build, not only in the Pakistani society but within the Pakistani military, if he starts to jeopardize their strength relative to India.

We also send a billion dollars a year to Pakistan for anti-terrorism programs, and I’d withhold those funds, too. I think we can get by this, and we can begin to form this new coalition that may be possible to keep radicalization of Pakistan from occurring.

Remember, this is a nuclear country we’re talking about. It’s a very dangerous situation.

Q: (from Rick Clark, Des Moines city manager): We also have a situation in Turkey with the Kurds, and what do you suggest? If you were president, how would you respond?

Biden: The fact is that the PKK, which is the radical element of the Kurds, has been very engaged in trying to destabilize the situation in eastern Turkey; there are about 4 million Kurds there. I think we should have – a long time ago – been reassuring the Kurds that we were in no way supportive of the PKK.

The Kurds have to step up to the ball and stop providing havens for the PKK. But we have a little bit of a problem: The PKK is sitting on the Iranian border as well as on the Turkey border. But we should have as a policy non-support of the PKK and using our assets to help identify where they are and not allowing them sanctuary. I think that’s the demonstration we have to make to the Turks; they are our NATO ally.

Q: (from real estate agent Gayle Collins): I’d like to know your prescription for ending the war in Iraq.

Biden: I’ll bring the troops home without leaving chaos behind. The idea is to maintain a unified Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions. The central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues. The plan would keep the Sunnis in the government by giving them a portion of the oil revenues.

We’d also bring together an international conference to secure the power-sharing arrangement with a nonaggression pact between the three groups that is overseen by major world powers. I think the Europeans would join us in this effort. I’d withdraw most of the U.S. troops from Iraq by the summer of 2008, with a small force to keep Iraqis and their neighbors honest, then give economic aid but tied to minority rights and job creation.

Q: (from Ric Jurgens, CEO of Hy-Vee): If you were president, how would you propose to ensure that imported foods and products are safe?

Biden: On all products coming in from China – and other countries where problems are existing – I’d put a stop to all imports until we have the assurance that products and food meet our standards.

Q: (from Steve Zumbach, attorney and community leader): How would you propose to protect minority rights in this country?

Biden: I’ve served on the Judiciary Committee in the U.S. Senate, and I’ve had a long history of protecting rights of the minority. I’d restore habeas corpus and make sure the government isn’t illegally spying on its citizens. I’d close (the U.S. prison camp at) Guantanamo. We need an attorney general and a president who believe in the protection of civil rights.

Q: (from real estate developer Bill Van Orsdel): I’m concerned with maintaining and improving the quality of water and reducing global warming. What will you do as president to address these issues?

Biden (from a speech at Blank Park Zoo): I’d focus on a new energy policy that directly relates to energy security, which we can do right now by reducing our own oil consumption and leading other major consumers to follow by raising fuel economy standards by one mile per gallon more each year and investing in new super-efficient technologies, requiring new vehicles to be flex-fuel vehicles and requiring major gas stations to sell alternative fuels.

Biden tells Iowans that he will restore fiscal responsibility to the federal budget, extend health care to all uninsured Americans, bring the vast majority of U.S. troops home from Iraq, and launch an intensive foreign relations effort to restore the American ideal around the world.