Biden Issues Old-School Attack; Giuliani Takes the Bait

At Tuesday's Democratic debate, hosted by MSNBC, the subject of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's many public attacks against Senator Hillary Clinton was brought up by the moderator, and Senator Joe Biden was waiting with an attack.

"Rudy Giuliani, the most under-qualified man to seek the presidency since George W. Bush," Biden said when asked about Hillary's qualifications. "[He] shouldn't be questioning the experience of anyone on this stage... There's only three things he says in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11."

The line was followed by a roar of laughter from the audience.

In a race where Giuliani, the front runner on the GOP side, and Sen. Clinton, the current Democratic poll leader, have been running as if they are the party nominee, Sen. Joe Biden has been polling low in the single digits, not only nationally, but also in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tonight Biden took a page from the oldest political playbook; he attacked his most prominent opponent, not only for laughs and applause, but in hopes that Giuliani would hit back.

If Biden could incite the most popular Republican candidate to attack him, it would have the effect of increasing Biden's national media exposure, name recognition, it would energize Biden's base, and add new legitimacy to his candidacy.

Giuliani's communication director, Katie Levinson, played right into Biden's hands with a press release attacking the Delaware senator saying, "Senator Biden's comments were of particular interest. The good senator is quite correct that there are many differences between Rudy and him."

Levinson continued with a calculated attack at Biden's 1987 presidential bid. "For starters, Rudy rarely reads prepared speeches and when he does he isn't prone to ripping off the text from others." Biden withdrew from the race after news that a portion of a speech he had delivered may have been plagiarized, an incident that the voters in Iowa don't mind in 2007.

The Giuliani press release then tuned to insulting Biden, "And, Senator Biden certainly falls in to the bucket of those on the stage tonight who have never had executive experience and have never run anything. Wait, I take that back, Senator Biden has never run anything but his mouth.

Finally, the remarks from Giuliani's communication director turned from insulting to childish: "Such a desperate attack from Senator Biden is to be expected considering I - Katie Levinson - have a better chance of becoming President than he does."

Such a demeaning and immature response from Giuliani is almost certainly more than Biden hoped for. Biden is a respected member of the Senate and is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee where his plan for a political solution in Iraq recently passed with the bipartisan support of 75 Senators.

Biden's issued and immediate response to Giuliani's campaign through his own communication director, Larry Rasky:

"We are well aware that former Mayor Giuliani will attempt to drag this race into the mud where the Republicans like to wage their campaigns. It's pretty obvious that they can't defend themselves on the real charge that Mr. Giuliani walked away from the cops and firefighters who were waiting for the 9/11 Commission to be enacted and the Biden crime bill to be restored."

During the debate, Joe Biden also stated that is was the Biden crime plan that was responsible for accomplishment that Giuliani most touts at his events, reducing crime in New York City.

"If you take away the Biden crime bill which gave New York 3000 more cops, [Giuliani] is left standing with nothing," Biden said.

If Rudy Giuliani continues to attack Biden, then it may be exactly what Biden needs to propel his campaign and fund raising from the back of the pack to a victory in 2008.