The choice is Joe Biden!

The Huffington Post has scooped the emails and text messages thanks to an Obama insider who chose - for obvious reasons - to remain anonymous. According to the authors of the piece - Liz Sodoti and Nedra Pickler:

Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues.

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, preferring not to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning.

Obama's campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket _ once the identity of Obama's running mate was known.

I've had a feeling for a long time that Biden would be the choice. I knew that Hillary Clinton's actions and words during the primaries precluded her from even a short list. While Tim Kaine might have helped Obama in Virginia, there were more measures in play. Evan Bayh shouldn't have even been in the running - and I know I'm speaking heresy to many other Hoosiers - because he was a poor match for the fiery oration Obama is known for. To be honest, Bayh is too damn bland. Besides, he wasn't very kind to Obama while he was on the campaign trail for Hillary.

Biden on the other hand is also a gifted orator and a bit of a bulldog who will chew McCain and his running mate to bits between now and November. That is the job of the running mate, to make the hits and leave the head of the ticket in the clear.

McCain has been tenacious in his attacks on Obama and it hasn't been until the last week or two that Obama started to fight back. The campaign needed a hitman and they got the best in Joe Biden.