Yes, Joe Biden Gave Me His Cell Phone Number

No, it wasn’t the most memorable part of our meeting

Every time I search my contacts for one of the Joe’s in my life, there he is.

Joe Biden.

Yes, that Joe Biden.

Over the years, my sons have always dared me to call or text him when they see Biden on live TV, such as when he was sitting behind President Obama at the annual State of the Union address.

It’s become a running family joke and an easy story for parties, but having him volunteer his cell phone isn’t the first or second thing that comes to mind when I remember our brief meeting.

The short set up is that it was 2008, and then-Senator Biden was making a campaign stop at a small college in Ohio as part of the final weeks of the presidential campaign. I was covering the rally as a journalist, and before it ended, a Biden staffer told me that Biden would grant me a five minute one-on-one interview as soon as the rally ended.

As Ohio is a major swing state, and since I was working for a Cleveland TV station, it seemed more like his staff was offering the one-on-one as a way to get more of Biden’s campaign pledges on the air in the state’s top market.