Biden Relies on His Closest Adviser, His Sister

[maddezmom]

By ASHLEY PARKER
Published: October 1, 2008
As Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. puzzles out the perfect tone to take with Gov. Sarah Palin in Thursday night’s debate, he is getting advice from a woman who has been an intimate since he was a grade school student with a stutter and a paper route.

“He’s been my best friend all my life,” said that person, Mr. Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, in an interview in August. “I opened my eyes and he was there and he said, ‘Let’s go.’ I was his sidekick.”

As Mrs. Biden Owens, 62, spoke, she summoned the ghost of her younger self, a kid sister trailing awestruck behind her big brother, Joey. Mrs. Biden Owens resembles her older brother — the bright eyes, the oval face, the quips, the way she remembers names and birthdays — but, really, she has led him, too, running through his life like garden ivy.

She has managed every one of his campaigns, from high school class president to his New Castle County Council race to his first Senate bid, a 1972 upset victory, to his minefield of a presidential run in 1988.

The tightly controlled Obama operation has been the first time she has had no official position on her brother’s campaigns. That does not mean, however, that she is sitting this one out.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/us/politics/02valerie.html?em

It's a puffy piece but still some nice insight about Joe and his sister Valerie. :)