Ending the war in Iraq and taking care of the nation's veterans is important to Jill Biden, especially as her son, Beau, deployed to Iraq this month and serves as a captain in the Delaware National Guard.
Biden, wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, spoke to the Mirror Sunday by phone after a Scranton rally with her husband, former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign offered the interviews to reporters in each Pennsylvania media market.
"Near and dear to my heart, since I have a son who is deployed, we need to end this war in Iraq," Jill Biden said during the eight-minute interview.
Biden said she encourages local families with loved ones in the military to consider the Obama-Biden ticket.
"One of the things I've heard Barack say, and I've heard Joe say, is that we have a sacred obligation to our veterans, that education and their health care needs will be taken care of," she said. "This is a really important issue for all of our military."
Biden, a teacher at Delaware Technical and Community College for 15 years, wrote her doctoral dissertation about how to retain students at community colleges, such as Pennsylvania Highlands in Johnstown.
She said she would continue her focus on education should the Democratic ticket make it to the White House.
"I wrote about student retention because I find in the community college where we teach we actually lose about one-third of our students," Jill Biden said. "I know my students are working, raising their children and going to school. When times get tough, the first thing that has to go is education.
"I had a student, a nurse, a straight-A student; his father was dying of cancer, and he knows he's not going to be able to afford next semester."
The Pennsylvania Department of Education's most recent community college annual report shows a drop in those students from the fall 2005 semester to spring 2006.
About 20 percent of students ages 18 to 21 dropped from fall to spring. The number increased to 24 percent for ages 22 to 34 and was about 19 percent for students older than 35.
In statistics divided by race, 25 percent of black students did not return for spring semester, compared with 23 percent of Hispanic students and 20 percent of white students.
During a recent family emergency, Biden telephoned the students in her 8:30 a.m. class to let them know she couldn't attend, hoping to save them the gas required to drive to campus.
"A lot of my students can't afford books," she said. "It's the little things making it so difficult for students to stay in school."
Biden cited her husband's experience on various issues as reasons he would succeed as vice president. Joe Biden has served in the U.S. Senate for more than three decades.
"I think he's a strong leader," Jill Biden said. "He has so much legislation that has helped women, especially his Violence Against Women Act, which criminalizes domestic violence."
Jill Biden also pointed to her husband's foreign policy expertise.
He has served as a ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 1997.
On the Republican ticket, Todd Palin, husband of vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also has traveled on behalf of his wife and presidential hopeful John McCain.
Spokesman Peter Feldman said Todd Palin may speak with the media before the Nov. 4 election.
"Todd Palin is campaigning for us, and we are excited to have him on the trail," Feldman said. "Like Gov. Palin, Alaska's 'first dude' brings a lot of energy to the campaign - and we're going to make good use of it in the final stretch."
Feldman said Todd Palin appeared in Maine Saturday as his wife traveled in central Pennsylvania, holding a rally in Johnstown and stopping in Altoona and near State College before attending a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game.
Mirror Staff Writer Jessica VanderKolk is at 946-7465.
