Attack mode expected from Biden tonight

DENVER — Democratic stalwarts expect Sen. Joseph Biden to deliver a tough attack on Sen. John McCain during the vice-presidential candidate's speech tonight.

Party loyalists remain anxious that nice-guy presidential candidate Barack Obama hasn't countered GOP attacks effectively, although Democratic leaders Tuesday spiced up their rhetoric with some bashing of McCain.

Waiting for Tuesday's program to begin, Michigan delegate Edna Bell said Biden has the type of experience necessary to take aim at McCain. Indeed, the Senate veterans traded criticisms at separate campaign stops Tuesday.

"He's the right person to frame John McCain and to tell the truth about the kind of things he's supported," said Bell, Wayne County chairwoman of Women for Obama. "I didn't expect [McCain] to be vilified early in the convention. That's demonstrative of who Barack Obama is. He's not an attack dog."

Attacks typically fall to vice-presidential candidates, although this campaign must strike a balance between optimism and criticism after a primary in which Obama identified himself as above partisan bickering, Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli said.

"They're incredibly conscious of their own image," Ciruli said of the Obama campaign. "One of the reasons he won [the primary] was because Hillary Clinton was the partisan. He was the one who was going to bring people together."

Ciruli said he expects Biden to focus on "economy, economy, economy" in his remarks tonight.

Polls show it's the top issue among voters, with up to twice as many people concerned about pocketbook issues than their second-most-talked-about concern, the Iraq war, he said.

Obama fans received a preview of Biden's thoughts on the economy Tuesday when he lambasted McCain's tax policy at an economic roundtable focused on women's issues and hosted by Michelle Obama.

The $100 billion in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans could instead be used to improve health care, Biden told a cheering crowd in Denver.

"How can you tell me, my friend John, that you're the party that values people?" Biden said. The Delaware Democrat added that his father used to say, "Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value."