After his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, Sen. Joe Biden began commuting back and forth between D.C. and Deleware on Amtrak. So it warmed my heart, sitting in the balcony of the Pepsi Center last night, to hear him call train transit out by name. "John McCain was wrong on everything," he said, "from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Amtrak to veterans."
With Biden's nomination, the two campaigns' approaches to rail couldn't be more different. Both he and Obama have been firm supporters of high-speed rail and want to see it expanded. Meanwhile, John McCain has vowed to close down the whole system in favor of privately-owned rail companies, reportedly calling it a "non-negotiable issue." Aviation is dying and 2008 is the year of the Supertrain. I think Americans want to get on board.
The above photos are of Biden on bus in 1976 and on a train in 2004.
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