Biden: McCain campaign 'genuinely disappointing'

From NBC/NJ's Mike MemoliEVANSVILLE, IN – Joe Biden told reporters last night that he hoped John McCain would end his campaign on a positive note. But this morning, he said it that has been "genuinely disappointing" to see his longtime Senate colleague use a Karl Rove playbook to try to win the White House.

"John McCain's campaign has gone way over the top," he said at an outdoor rally downtown in traditionally red-tinged Indiana. "They are trying to take the low road to the highest office in the land. It's not only George Bush's economic policies that John McCain has bought hook, line, and sinker. He's also bought Karl Rove's brand of political tactics. And it is disappointing. I never thought I'd see this from a McCain campaign."

Though Republicans have called Barack Obama "every name in the book," he told Hoosiers that if they work with the campaign and "choose hope over fear," that they'll call Obama something else: "The commander in chief and President of the United States of America!"

Biden kicked off November with the southwest Indiana stop, which apparently included an unannounced trip to a local church to attend mass on this All Saints Day. His wife, Jill, had to remind him about the Catholic holy day of obligation, only learning herself when she met a nun during a morning run along the Ohio River.

"I'll call my mom some time during the day and the first thing she'll ask me, 'Joey did you go to mass.' So you saved me, sister. You saved me," Biden said.