NPR

Biden Promises No More Mr. Nice Guy In Second Democratic Debate

The former vice president is expected to be tested again on race, as he spars with Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, the two leading African American candidates, over policing and health care.
In this week's Democratic debate, former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to be tested again on race. Above, he attends the Fourth of July parade in Independence, Iowa.

Before the first presidential debate last month, former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign signaled that he expected to be attacked by the candidates trailing him in the polls but that Biden would essentially ignore all incoming fire.

It was a classic front-runner approach. And it was punctured, hard and fast, by California Sen. Kamala Harris' attack on Biden's past opposition to federal busing policies.

From the moment Harris told Biden, seemingly out of the blue, that "I do not believe you are a racist," Biden's candidacy

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