Obama has picked Joe Biden, a senator from Delaware, as his Vice-Presidential running mate. Biden has been a Senator since 1972. The Cato Institute trade votes web site summarizes his record on trade and subsidies from 1998 to date: Biden's Record.
There's an interesting progression away from a pro-trade stance in the last years of the Clinton administration. Here's the record, Congress by Congress (trade votes are evaluated along the horizontal axis, subsidy votes on the vertical axis):
105th Congress: 1997-1998
106th Congress: 1999-2000
107th Congress: 2001-2002
108th Congress: 2003-2004
109th Congress: 2005-2006
110th Congress: 2007-2008
Biden's record is actually slightly less pro-trade than Obama's over the 2004-2008 period they were both in the Senate.
This is a pretty rough picture. Reasons for the change might include: (a) general Democratic shift to a more trade-agreement-skeptical stance; (b) change in the nature of the votes (more FTAs)?; (c) shift from supporting a President of your own party to more antagonistic approach to a President of another party? The Cato analysis doesn't go back before 1997 and, as noted, Biden has been in the Senate since 1972.
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