Biden predicts Dem sweep

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By Ed Tibbetts | Tuesday, October 31, 2006 11:49 PM CST | () comments

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., predicted a Democratic wave to sweep the country next Tuesday, arguing the “Republican philosophy” ushered in by Ronald Reagan in 1980 was swept away by Hurricane Katrina last year.

Biden, who was in Davenport to rally support for Democratic candidates in Scott County, said the mid-term elections are a chance to change power in the Congress and at the courthouse.

“Something big is happening,” he said at a Tuesday lunchtime rally at The Hat.

Last year’s failed response to Katrina, Biden said, showed the “underlying philosophy of the Republican Party was bankrupt” because the storm showed individual cities couldn’t rebuild levees and wetlands, but that it took a nationwide effort.

“Everything the Republicans have argued from their tax cuts to their focus upon take care of yourself first was sort of laid to waste,” he said.

Biden has already said he’s going to run for president in 2008. And on Tuesday, he said he would boost homeland security by moving to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and pay for them by revoking the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $1 million.

Sarah Sauber, a Republican Party of Iowa spokesperson, responded that the GOP is confident going into Tuesday’s elections. “Republicans have established policies that have helped thousands of Iowans, including the tax cuts,” she said.

Biden also said his party has been too timid and argued that it must enunciate a plan to deal with the war in Iraq. “We can’t just say they screwed up. We have to figure out a way to fix it,” he said.

Biden has proposed a plan to redeploy U.S. troops over the next 18 months, create a power-sharing agreement among the factions in Iraq and boost diplomacy in the region.

Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was on the second of a two-day trip to Iowa.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.