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[Crowd noise and music playing] Female Voice 1: Where you're going is fine. Mike Castle: I can't walk and talk at the same time. Female Voice 1: [Laughter] I feel that way today. I'm still freaking. What do you think about the election?

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Mike Castle: Well, we're very pleased with the turnout the election, although the numbers didn't change fundamentally,

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they get a little bit the county seats to the Republican side, particularly in Sussex County.

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The fact that we have retained the same number of seats in the General Assembly. We had a number of seats at risk.

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And the quality of some of the people who were elected in primarily Bob Still in the State Senate and Steve Amick and Joe DiPinto and Cliff Lee in House.

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I think it's going to elevate the Republican input in both the House and the Senate. So we're very pleased about that.

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And I look forward to working with General Assembly and I think there's some comfort and familiarity and we've all

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worked with each other for two years. So instead of having to feel each other out and start all over again, oh, we can really get into business

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right away because everyone sort of knows where the others are coming from. Female Voice 1: How about the US Senate? Mike Castle: Well, I don't have

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any great thoughts about that. I think it's really a reflection that in 1980, a number of Republicans were elected

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who, not necessarily on the basis of their candidacy. So much is on the basis of philosophy, I think of

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Paula Hawkins in Florida who might not have been otherwise qualified for instance. And then in 1986 they couldn't withstand good opponents.

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Want interests me a lot more, is that a lot of Republican governors were elected around the country.

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In fact, there are eight more Republican governors today, than existed, than existed before the election and we're very pleased about that.

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I think that's again more a reflection of the candidates and their ability to be well-funded and to carry out policies. In each case, I, I think

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the states now are really electing individuals. And it's getting to the point that the political labels

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are nothing more than a vehicle to get people to the point where they can get elected. And if you look in the South,

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in Alabama, there was a Republican governor, for instance. And in states such as Vermont, they have a Democratic governor

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which never elected democrats at all for a while. So you can almost throw out the labels and start dealing with

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individuals and who can really get the job done. Female Voice 1: But don't you really feel it's important that the, at least US Senate

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is on the, of the same party as the president or do you not really think that matters. Mike Castle: I'm sure it makes some difference to the Reagan people.

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That's the, that's the group of elections I focus least on. So I really haven't given a lot of thought to it.

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But I think ultimately the best policies will be carried out. I just hope that, that, that, that Congress is capable of carrying

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out the control of expenditures. I happen to think that Congress is a failure frankly. And I've thought so for

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some time Republican or Democrat. I think that they their methodology and process for handling a budget, their inability to,

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to grab hold of issues and really solve problems instead of just spreading bureaucracy and such is, is astounding and

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I can't cure that from what we're doing in Delaware, but I worked with the governors and we go to the

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White House and we tell them that, that frankly we don't, we don't like the way Washington does business and

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nobody seems to really learn from that. And Congress continues on its fumbling ways. Female Voice 1: I'm so glad you said that. So many people feel like that and yet they keep voting these nerds in, excuse me

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Gary Heinz wow, long time no see. Yeah. Could we turn for a moment to the tax windfall in Delaware? Mike Castle: Let's go quickly because I have to get over there

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Female Voice 1: You can't talk and walk at the same time? Mike Castle: I can but I've got to see a lot of people shake hands, and do things. Female Voice 1: OK Mike Castle: Yeah, the tax windfall's

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really not that substantial in Delaware thirty million dollars when you're dealing with a budget of one billion dollars is

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a relatively small amount of money. It's a blip of in our economic scene of a percentage point or two. And it's a matter of fact,

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just by our tax cuts in the last three years, we're returning probably in excess of two hundred million dollars a year to taxpayers in the state or

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that is we're never getting it from taxpayer. So how I will actually handle that I don't know. We will review carefully all facets of it.

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Who was actually impacted by what has happened and and make some decisions which I'll probably announce in the budget address.

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Female Voice 1: Thank you. Male Voice : You know, the House Judiciary Committee, what's going to be the story with that? Joe Biden: I think the story will be, I hope the story will be, that

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Senator Kennedy will be the chairman of the committee. We, the way the Senate rules work is whomever is the most senior person

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can at anytime with a change of a, a Congress, claim the chairmanship or the ranking membership depending

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whether you're a minority or majority. By way of very brief background. The reason that bother to give you this detail is because everybody

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seems confused by it. In 1981 when the Senator from New Jersey was thrown out, Ted Kennedy who was,

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and we went into the minority. We lost the, we had lost the majority position. Ted Kennedy chose because

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of his interest in healthcare legislation, chose to take the ranking membership of the Labor Committee because that has jurisdiction over all those issues.

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He that automatically boosted me from the number two spot on Judiciary to the number one spot among the Democrats. Then he maintained that position.

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Once that occurred, I was there until there'd be a change in the Congresses. Now we've taken over

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the leadership of the Congress. All the chairs will be Democrats obviously. And Senator Kennedy has the option as does Senator Leahy, for example,

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who was chairman of the Intelligence Committee who's now going to take Agriculture even though

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Senator Zorinsky was the ranking member of Agriculture. Each of these senior people have an opportunity to come back

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and claim the chairmanships. Kennedy can claim either Labor or Judiciary because all the action in the 80, or in the 100th Congress is going to

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be in Judiciary and Foreign Relations. I suspect, and I hope Senator Kennedy will take the chairmanship

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of the Judiciary Committee. The reason why I hope is because the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee would

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not allow me any time as a practical matter, to be deeply involved in foreign policy. I'm the number two person on

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foreign policy among the Democrats and I am the chairman of the Democrats group on on foreign policy. And, and it's something I have

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a great interest in. With Claiborne Pell as the chairman, he and I worked very closely together, there'll be a division of

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labor in that committee. And things that I have a deep, deep interest in, particularly arms control, US-Soviet Relations in

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the Middle East are all things that the committees which I would chair in Foreign Relations. But if I'm chairman of Judiciary,

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that's going to be such a busy and such a high visibility committee because of the Supreme Court, because of anti-trust legislation.

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As a practical matter, I will essentially have to spend all my time there. So that's the reason I say, I hope.

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But in the event that Senator Kennedy chooses to stay with the Labor Committee, then I will be the Chairman of the Judiciary

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Committee and do it gladly. But my preference would be to be able to chair the major committee, major subcommittee in Judiciary

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and chair the major subcommittee in Foreign Relations rather than have all my time occupied with Judiciary.

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Male Voice: There are those who say that the visibility of the chairmanship of Judiciary might help your future political plans. Joe Biden: Well, you know, I think that's

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that's, that's a close call. Obviously, it helps because as I said, one of your organizations did a study to find out

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which committees get the most coverage on television and in print. And the most covered committee in the United States Congress for

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the last ten years is Judiciary. So obviously you'd be on the nightly news almost every night. That's the good point.

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It's like that old joke, the good news and the bad news. That's the good news. The bad news is you're also going to

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be the point person for the most divisive and the most controversial issues to come before the United States Senate.

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For example, there are those who, on the Democratic side, who will want to stop any judicial nomination that the President sends up,

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which is not a view that I share. I think you should judge them under merits and if they're bright and they have

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at least a demonstration of an open mind, they should be there notwithstanding their politics. The flip side of that is

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though that there are a lot of activist Democrats, who will, whomever is Chairman, say, why can't you stop every

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single solitary Reagan appointee Which is not what I would attempt to do. So it's good and bad. It would be much more visibility obviously.

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And, but it'll also be very, very controversial. And I might find myself, I would find myself on the, on the opposite side of some issues

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from the Democratic Party, I suspect. Female Voice 2: Are you running for president and when will you officially announce? Joe Biden: No, I am not now running for president, and if I were to run,

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I would not make that decision and that announcement until the end of the winter or early spring.