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Biden is wrench in McCain's VP choice
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-27 21:20

But Pawlenty, 48, may seem too young and inexperienced when measured against Biden, 65, who was elected to the US Senate in 1972 - when the governor was just 12 years old.

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During his service in the Senate, Biden has become a respected voice on foreign affairs. President Bush called him for advice after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Biden also is a two-time presidential candidate and a skilled sparring partner with years of practice against Republicans in the upper chamber - experiences that have given him a familiarity with partisan debate on the national stage that Pawlenty lacks.

A nationally televised Biden-Pawlenty debate "is unthinkable," said one Republican insider.

• Former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge could be a better match to Biden's national security credentials. Ridge's service in the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 attacks provided a crash course on terrorism and national security issues.

As a former Pennsylvania governor, he could be a powerful counterweight to Biden's Catholic upbringing in Scranton, a working-class Keystone State enclave that went heavily for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries but could be up for grabs in November.

Ridge also is capable of throwing stinging political punches and has become a mainstay on the political talk-show circuit.

But there are downsides to a Ridge selection.

He is a supporter of abortion rights, which would aggravate McCain's already uneasy alliance with his party's conservative wing.

Ridge has tried to assuage conservatives about his abortion stance by stating that he would defer to McCain's position calling for overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling establishing abortion rights.

But such a nuanced position would be fertile turf for Biden to try to accomplish two goals: painting Ridge as a flip-flopper and driving a wedge between McCain and many independent and swing women voters on the abortion issue.