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Common in this presidential race are the family members that campaign for their brothers, husbands, wife. On Tuesday, I met Valerie Biden Owens in the airport as she landed in Reno to stump for her brother Joe in Northern Nevada. Picking up her baggage, we sat down for some lunch, a discussion about Joe and an overview of all things political in the Silver State.

“I may not know the ins and outs of all the policies, but I am an expert on my brother.” Despite this confession, Valerie knew a great deal about the issues facing our state, and was hungry to learn more. In between the french fries and glasses of soda, we spread out a map of Nevada and got to work talking about the different regions in the state, our economy and our challenges. We talked about water, gold mining, urban growth and federal lands. Valerie soaked it up, asking pointed questions along the way, and then admitting she had been a history major in college.

Valerie’s directed every campaign for Joe since he first ran for local office in 1970, and in five minutes with her you learn why she’s so key to his success. A tireless advocate as his national campaign chair, she laid it out for me: none of the other challenges of our time (health care, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, etc.) can be dealt with until we resolve the situation in Iraq- and Joe’s the guy to do it.

Thanks for meeting with me Valerie and thanks for coming to Nevada to hear about our issues!

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