Biden Plans to "Use" Son's Iraq Deployment

Biden, while helping Obama with his foreign policy experience, also exposes the ticket to a thicket of thorny issues, not the least of which is Biden's relationship with his brother James, who runs a lobbying shop here in town, where Senator Biden's son Hunter is also a partner.

The pair have actively sought clients that might have business before committees that Biden serves on in the Senate, and have dabbled in hedge funds, which, say Democrats on K Street, did not go well. Biden's other son from his first marriage is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in early October, an event the Obama campaign has factored heavily into its early October campaign schedule.

"Biden is very well aware that his son's deployment is going to be a big part of what we do in October. It's part of our narrative and we're going to milk it for all it's worth," says one of the Obama advisers. "Republicans would do the same."