Obama's Pick of Biden for Veep Teaches Country Delaware Actually a Real State

At 3 a.m. Saturday, Barack Obama's campaign team sent out a text message and e-mail announcing his choice of Joseph Biden for his running mate for the 2008 Presidential run. While the move was hailed by many for Biden's experience in foreign matters, it seems the choice also served to point out to America that Delaware is in fact an actual state.

In picking the 35-year senator as his running mate, Obama's campaign immediately gained political experience, one of the main knocks on the first-term Illinois senator. But many Democratic insiders are pointing out that the choice also moved the state of Delaware into the spotlight, giving it legitimacy as an "actual state."

"I would go to conventions or talk to folks when I was on vacation an tell them I was from Delaware and people would just laugh," said Marlon Brown, head of the Delaware Democratic Party. "Now I think people will stop doing that little scene from Wayne's World, saying 'We're in Delaware' ... all sarcastic like."

With little going for the state other than it's distinction as the "First State," many in Delaware are hoping Biden, and the potential of having him in the White House, might be a boon for the state. Longtime Delaware resident Delbert Bard said the possibility of having a Vice President of the United States from Delaware marks one of the most exciting things to happen in the state in years.

"This is probably the biggest thing to happen to Delaware since DuPont discovered Teflon in 1938," said Bard. "Either that or when we had that public flogging back in 1952. Tell you what, you bring back some public whippings and ...."

Senator Biden is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday night.