(The following story by Perry Bacon, Jr. appeared on the Washington Post website on September 16.)
MEDIA, Penn. — Perhaps America’s most enthusiastic Amtrak rider missed riding the train.
Vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, on the way to this Philadelphia suburb, took some reporters with him as he left Washington on Tuesday afternoon to stop at his home in Wilmington, Del., before striking out for a few more days on the campaign trail in swing states.
Biden, with a phalanx of camera people and Secret Service agents around him, joked about how things had changed.
“I used to ride this thing every day and nobody paid any attention,” he said, describing his presence as a “nuisance.”
But he added that if he and Barack Obama are elected, “It will be the most train-friendly administration ever.”
After spending a bit of time in Wilmington, he arrived at a farmer’s market here and spent his second day giving a speech that consisted largely of attacks on McCain’s record.
While he probably won’t be taking the train much for the rest of the campaign, Biden will practically become a resident of the Philadelphia suburbs — one of the areas where the Obama campaign hopes he will connect with working-class voters.