The Obama campaign nevertheless still valued Biden as a retail-level politician who could connect with disaffected , blue collar workers and rural residents , and he had a heavy schedule of appearances in swing states as the Obama re-election campaign began in earnest in spring 2012 . An August 2012 remark before a mixed-race audience that proposed Republican relaxation of Wall Street regulations would " put y' all back in chains " led to a similar analysis of Biden 's face-to-face campaigning abilities versus tendency to go off track . The '' Los Angeles Times '' wrote , " Most candidates give the same stump speech over and over , putting reporters if not the audience to sleep . But during any Biden speech , there might be a dozen moments to make press handlers cringe , and prompt reporters to turn to each other with amusement and confusion . " '' Time '' magazine wrote that Biden often goes too far and that " Along with the familiar Washington mix of neediness and overconfidence , Biden 's brain is wired for more than the usual amount of goofiness . " Biden was officially nominated for a second term as vice president on September 6 by voice vote at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte , North Carolina . He faced his Republican counterpart , Representative Paul Ryan , in the lone 2012 vice presidential debate on October 11 in Danville , Kentucky . There he made a feisty , emotional defense of the Obama administration 's record and energetically attacked the Republican ticket , in an effort to regain campaign momentum lost by Obama 's unfocused debate performance against Republican nominee Mitt Romney the week before
2012 Democratic National Convention
2012 Democratic National Convention
Joe Biden