Obama would have been better off picking Hillary Clinton than me: Biden

Washington, Sept.11 : Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Delaware Senator Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Barack Obama would have done better to pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate than him.

Responding to an audience member at a town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, who criticized Clinton and said it's a good thing Obama chose Biden over her, he said: "Make no mistake about this, Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Lets get that straight."

"She's easily qualified to be vice president ... and quite frankly, might have been a better pick than me. But she's first rate. I mean that sincerely. She is first rate. So let's get that straight," Fox News quoted him as saying further.

Within minutes of that remark, John McCain spokesman Ben Porritt sent out an an e-mail saying the choice of Biden was Obama's "most important decision of this election."

It was the latest shot in a spate of political crossfire between the two presidential campaigns.

Biden earlier in the day compared McCain's attacks on Obama to the attacks McCain faced during the 2000 White House race - when Biden rose to McCain's defense.

Addressing an audience of about 300 political donors in Boston, the Delaware senator said he would respond forcefully to anyone attacking Obama.

ANI