DeWine: Obama-Biden means liberal judges

Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Springfield) said if the presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden is elected, the federal judiciary will become more liberal given their records on judges.

DeWine is John McCain's Ohio campaign chair and served on the Senate Judiciary Committee with Biden. On that committee, Biden has opposed conservative jurists for seats on the federal bench, most memorably Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. DeWine said this part of Biden's Senate career is important.

"I think it certainly reinforces how important this race is in regard to the direction of the court. The next president could very well be picking people for the court who will really set the direction of the court for the next 10, 20 years. So I think when you look at Biden's background and you look at the fact that Obama is the most liberal member of the senate according to the National Journal it tells people I think that the nominees on the bench...would be pretty liberal. I think people will take that into consideration when they cast their vote," DeWine said.

DeWine said he wasn't surprised that Biden was picked by Obama but found it interesting that this former critic is now on the ticket.

"Biden has been so critical in the past of Obama -- not of him personally -- but of his foreign policy background and experience. I certainly think that's going to be an issue. I think Senator Biden's words during the primary will be looked at very closely and carefully now that he is Barack Obama's VP candidate," DeWine said.

The McCain campaign has already begun to air a television ad on Biden putting his criticisms of Obama and praise of McCain into the public eye.

McCain and Biden's relationship has been "professional" but couldn't say much more about their connection otherwise.

"The Senate's a small place, there's only 100 people," he said. "Everyone interacts with everyone else and the longer you're there, the more people you interact with. "They've had a lot of interaction over the years but I don't notice anything unique about that relationship."