The most pressing issues to America's middle class are economic, economic, and ECONOMIC

So all the people who say their most important issues are foreign policy don't count?

Given the list, I am delighted with Biden. He will be good for Michigan and the auto industry. The economy (jobs & health care) are front and center this election.

I am interested in Biden's views on pre-k especially as it affects the middle class.

I hope you're wrong, dkmichigan. As far as I know, he's actually pro-public transportation, mostly because he regularly commutes to work on Amtrak. That's not pro-auto, but pro-the rest of the country.

The Democratic Party chose to emphasize Biden's foreign policy credentials because the Republican Party constantly presents Obama as lacking in foreign policy experience. The Democrats could simply ignore the Republican's attacks -- except studies show that although the public claims to hate and be turned off by attack campaigns and negative ads, those things nonetheless influence the way the public votes. That is why a politician's campaign has to be devoted to not only showing the public who he/she is in actuality, but also to taking the water out of the opposition's attacks. Look at what happened with John Kerry, for example, when he chose to focus on the issues alone and simply ignore the Bush campaign's portrayal of him as a "coward" who couldn't protect the country from further terrorist attacks. That really took hold with the public and the consequences of that were evident. Political candidates have to take care to counter negative attacks launched against them, and to fill in any weaknesses, real or perceived, that could be reasonably significant to the voting public. While the Democratic Party does need to address the issue of foreign policy, I agree, that they can't allow the Right to shift their campaign over to "their" turf, because the reason why they are dragging them there is because they know that that's where they will win. They do need to maintain focus on their strong point, the economy (and not only in the campaign but after they win the election also).