THE TIME SERVER:

Timeline of Biden's life and career (AP, 8/23/08)

Jan. 5, 1973 _ Sworn in to the U.S. Senate at the bedside of the still-convalescing Beau and Hunter in Wilmington.

January 1975 _ Becomes a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he later chairs.

June 17, 1977 _ Marries Jill Tracy Jacobs, a schoolteacher.

January 1977 _ Becomes a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he later chairs from 1987 to 1994.

November 1978 _ Wins re-election to U.S. Senate.

June 8, 1981 _ Birth of daughter, Ashley.

November 1984 _ Re-elected to U.S. Senate.

June 9, 1987 _ Announces candidacy for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.

Feb. 11, 1988 _ Undergoes successful surgery after two brain aneurysms are diagnosed.

November 1990 _ Wins re-election to U.S. Senate.

November 1996 _ Re-elected to U.S. Senate.

November 2002 _ Wins re-election to U.S. Senate.

Jan. 31, 2007 _ Announces his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Aug. 1, 2007 _ Releases his memoir, "Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics."

Jan. 3, 2008 _ Drops out of presidential race after poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.

Aug. 23, 2008 _ Named Barack Obama's running mate.

Hard not to notice that he's never actually done anything in the Senate, eh? Consider just a comparison with his longtime fellow Senator from Delaware, the rather nondescript William Roth. Nevermind that Mr. Roth had served in the military and had both a JD and an MBA from Harvard, he is also associated with two of the most important pieces of legislation of the past thirty years, the Kemp-Roth tax cuts that became the centerpiece of the Reagan recovery and the Roth IRA. If we give you from now until doomsday you won't come up with a comparable Biden bill.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 23, 2008 9:57 AM