Iowa Democrats Concerned About Iraq; Interview With Joe Biden
MALVEAUX: Iraq is an issue that Democratic voters care deeply about. As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joe Biden knows a little something about that. But as a presidential candidate, he remains well in the back of the pack just two weeks before the Iowa caucuses. But can he turn things around? Senator Joe Biden joining me now from the campaign trail in Iowa. Senator, thank you so much for joining us here in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. BIDEN: . Thanks for having me, Suzanne. I appreciate it very much.</s>MALVEAUX: It was weeks ago that your colleagues in Congress said that they were not going to give any money for Iraq -- the Iraq War -- unless there was a timetable to withdraw troops. Well, they now have sent the president a spending bill that includes $70 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. There are some in your party who are saying the Democrats essentially -- that you have failed them. You didn't show up for that vote. Why should they not believe that you've failed them, as well?</s>BIDEN: Well, we didn't fail them. We -- that $70 billion is needed to defend the troops. I was able to get $15 billion in that bill to build these MRAPs -- these vehicles that increase by 300 percent the survivability of our troops. Seventy percent have been killed because they ride around in these uparmored Humvees which are not designed to save their lives. And 70 percent of the 28,000 injuries are because of that. Everybody knows I would have voted for that. I am the only Democratic candidate that voted to fund the troops back in May. As long as there's a single troop on the ground, I will vote to protect them.</s>MALVEAUX: Why didn't you show up for the vote? Did you feel like essentially the numbers simply weren't there?</s>BIDEN: Well, we -- I -- Harry Reid knows and the leadership knows if they need me -- and I'm sure it's for the candidates, as well -- if they need us to make a deciding vote on anything, we will be there. But the fact of the matter is it was overwhelming. It was a compromise that was reached between the leadership of both parties. And that's how it was arrived at. And there was no -- I mean, it was lopsided. So had I been needed, I would have been there.</s>MALVEAUX: How do you address those in your party who are so frustrated at this point that there is not a withdrawal date for troops?</s>BIDEN: I address them by saying you've got to send us more senators and elect me or some Democrat president. Because the truth of the matter is, as you know, Suzanne, you know the Senate well -- you need to get 16 Republicans to vote with us to be able to override a presidential veto. Even if we add 65 votes to set a date, the president vetoes that and it goes away. So we need to change the makeup of the Senate and hold Republicans who continue to vote to keep troops there indefinitely accountable for it in this next election. And I'd point out one thing. The Biden plan to exit Iraq received overwhelming support from the House and Senate, Democrat and Republican, and is sitting on the president's desk right now.</s>MALVEAUX: Let's take a quick look at some of these Iowa poll numbers here. They say that the most important issue for the Democratic caucus goers certainly is Iraq, at 30 percent. But then you take a look at your numbers here in terms of whether or not you're the likely choice for them. Biden, it says, at 3 percent. You have really made...</s>BIDEN: No, no, no. Eight percent. No, no.</s>MALVEAUX: But...</s>BIDEN: The most recent poll says 8 percent.</s>MALVEAUX: Eight percent...</s>BIDEN: Just taken.</s>MALVEAUX: ...obviously, for Iraq. But I want to ask you this. You have made foreign policy, really, the central issue in your campaign.</s>BIDEN: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: You have an incredible amount of experience in this area. Why is it not resonating more with these voters in Iowa?</s>BIDEN: Well, I think it is resonating. The most recent poll shows me moving into fourth place in Iowa, number one. Number two, this is exactly where -- I'm way ahead of where Kerry was and where Edwards was the last time around. The Iowa voters -- and there's a bunch of them in this room I'm sitting in. I just spoke to a large group of them here in Webster City. They're just making up their minds right now. And they're just beginning to focus. They've been focused, but now they're making their decisions. And I think I'm going to do very well out here. I think you're going to be very surprised. And if I'm not, look, I ran a campaign based on what I believe and what I said I would do as president and what I thought had to be done -- or has to be done. And so, you know, either way it's fine. But I believe you're going to see me getting a ticket out of Iowa.</s>MALVEAUX: If you don't come in the top three, do you drop out after Iowa or do you go on?</s>BIDEN: Well, the probability is anyone who doesn't come in in the top three or a very close fourth -- I mean if they're bundled up -- is not likely to be able to do much more beyond that. And that includes John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well. And so it's the same for all of us out here. The expectations of me are a great deal lower and the expectations for Senator Clinton and Obama are extreme -- and Edwards -- are extremely high. And you know, as a reporter, the national press will make a judgment on who exceeded expectations and who is alive and well going into New Hampshire. And...</s>MALVEAUX: So what will you do?</s>BIDEN: And it -- well, I'll go on to New Hampshire, because I think I'm going to be -- exceed expectations and I think I'm going to be viewed as one of the leading alternatives to whoever the number one person is.</s>MALVEAUX: So let's turn from politics more to the personal here. Obviously, your book coming out, "Promises To Keep." You really show a very different side of yourself. You talk about back in 1972 after you lost your wife and child in a car accident. And you say: "Most of all, I was numb, but there were moments when the pain cut through like a shard of broken glass. I began to understand how despair led people to cash it in and how suicide wasn't just an option, but a rational option." Tell me how you survived that moment and why are you talking about this now?</s>BIDEN: Well, I wrote a book -- I was asked to write a book on my career. And I wrote a book without mentioning anything about the most significant thing that happened in my life. And the publisher said how can you write about your life and not mention that you lost a wife and a daughter and had two children very badly injured in a -- when a tractor trailer blind-sided them and you were not in the car? How can you not talking about it? And I talk about it not in, as you noticed, not in a lot of detail. But it is part of my life. It is part of what has impacted on me and one it is part of what has affected the person I am today. And the way I got through it, I have an incredible family. My sister, Valerie, who manages my campaigns and all of them -- my sister and her husband moved in to help me raise my children without being asked. My mother was there. My brother, who's on the campaign trail with me, moved in an apartment with on a -- with an old barn on the property. He made it into an apartment. Everyone was there to help me. They were there constantly. And I can only wonder how in God's name does a single parent left with that kind of tragedy and who doesn't have a family to help them out. I was just extremely, extremely fortunate.</s>MALVEAUX: And you weren't alone. Senator John Edwards also losing a son. Do you believe that this makes you a stronger person, a stronger candidate?</s>BIDEN: I don't think it qualifies me any more or less for president other than one thing -- tragedies like that either make you stronger or make you weaker. They don't leave you the same, I promise you that. And what it's taught me is that I can handle anything. I can handle -- you know, I later ended up being told I had a 30 percent chance of living. I had two cranial aneurysms and an embolism. But, you know, look, you go through things and a lot of people have gone through these things. And it teaches you things. I know what it's like to be a single parent for five years. And I had a lot of help, but I know what it's like. And I can -- it gives me such empathy for women making $30,000 a year raising two kids, being held to the same standard I was held to. So, it just gives you a different perspective. And a lot of people -- a lot of people -- a lot of people go through the kinds of things that I went through. And they get up every day and put one foot in front of the other. And that's why this country is so full of grit, so full of gumption, that we so underestimate the capacity of the American people to not only take a hit, but get back up.</s>MALVEAUX: Senator Joe Biden, thank you so much for joining us on THE SITUATION ROOM. Glad you got on the other side of that tragedy.</s>BIDEN: Thank you.</s>MALVEAUX: Thank you. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launches a push for votes in New Hampshire. But some of his main competition may actually be from one Republican candidate. We'll explain. Plus, family survival -- a father and three kids lost in a snowstorm now safe and warm. Find out what they did to survive. Also, boot camp for Internet junkies -- shock therapy for kids who can't log off. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.