When I saw Joe Biden at a pizza joint in Hanover, NH last week, I told him, "When I tell people about your values and your background, I like to say I don't think you can go three minutes without quoting one of your family members." He laughed and said, "I think you're right."

The campaign issued a detailed education plan this week, and it proved my point. The Senator said,

"My mother has an expression, children tend to become that which you expect of them. I want a country where we expect much from America's children. Every child must graduate from high school. Every child should go on to higher education. Today, just two-thirds of students entering high school graduate, and about two-thirds of those go on to college. We are losing too many children in this country, wasting too much talent, leaving so much potential untapped. We know what we need to do: First, stop focusing just on test scores. Second, start education earlier. Third, pay educators more. Fourth, reduce class size. Fifth, make higher education affordable."

Biden's plan is an exciting one - it would expand public education from 12 years to 16, adding two years to each end, as well as make college more affordable and reduce the emphasis on test scores. The price tag is $30 billion; you can read the details here. It's received some nice press coverage, especially given the lack of attention the MSM likes to give the "second tier" candidates. I should emphasize that education is completely outside his purview as a member of the Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees. He has an excellent grasp of all the issues, even the ones no one would expect. His strength on education issues may come from his relationship with his sister, Valerie Biden-Owens, a teacher, but I have also seen him give numbers, details, and plans at the drop of a hat when asked about Katrina recovery, health care, energy, and more. Biden's intelligence and his penchant for straight talk are among his best assets.

This announcement comes at an exciting time for the Biden campaign. The campaign just picked up its tenth endorsement from the Iowa state legislature (second only to Clinton) and some important endorsements in South Carolina, launched websites for South Carolina and New Hampshire, and, as I mentioned last week, saw the Senator's plan for federalism in Iraq pass the Senate by an overwhelming margin. Biden also performed very well in last week's debate here at Dartmouth, as you can see in these videos.

As most of you know, I am a student at Dartmouth, so I'll close out this post with an anecdote about the debate that shows the Senator's character. Following the debate, I was going to take some other students for Biden from the campus watch party to the campaign's official after party to meet the Senator himself. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to arrange rides, Biden had already left the party. Since we weren't going to meet the Senator, a friend and I decided to hit the local late-night pizza joint instead--it was by now 1 AM. We walk in the front door of the restaurant, and who should we see sitting right up front? Why, Joe, Beau, and Hunter Biden! They were delighted to see our Biden shirts, and talked to us for several minutes. After a few minutes, the Senator signed my copy of his autobiography and asked us to sit down and join him for their extra pizza. We declined, as we did not want to interrupt his staff's meeting, but 20 minutes later, when the family and staff got up to leave, the Senator came over to our table in the back of the room, set the platter of leftover pizza down, and said, "You're taking my leftover pizza. Thanks, guys, I'll see you next time!"

Hunter and Beau were just as impressive as their father. That's who Joe Biden and his family are: givers, generous folks, devout Catholics guided by their values. It reminds me of another story, when Biden insisted that the Dartmouth College Democrats watch the Superbowl with him at his house. His character is only one of many reasons why I support him, but it is a compelling one.