One would think that a crisis abroad, such as the one that erupted in Pakistan yesterday with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, would benefit '08 presidential candidates possessing the most well established foreign policy credentials - if it had any effect on the race at all. And while that seems to be true on the Republican side with most observers suggesting the news may marginally boost John McCain, the same is not true for the Democrats.

As Steven wrote yesterday, the consensus seems to be that to the degree the Bhutto assassination has any effect at all it will work in Hillary Clinton's favor. One name conspicuously missing from the discussion is Joe Biden, who probably has more real experience in the foreign policy workings of the United States government than all the other Democrats running for president combined.

Indeed, Clinton's "closing argument" in Iowa - we live in serious times that demand a person with enough experience to step into the White House and lead from day one - is in many ways an effective argument in favor of Joe Biden. Yet despite repeated (and ongoing) talk of Biden being a "sleeper" and a "dark horse" in Iowa, he continues to languish in the polls showing little if any upward momentum.

Biden must be frustrated that Democratic voters indicate that they value experience but appear to be grading on a curve. As Patrick Healy of the New York Times pointed out earlier this week, Hillary Clinton is seen by voters as possessing a tremendous amount of experience, though in reality her experience in the White House was very limited, especially on matters of national security and foreign policy.

Clearly the perception of Clinton is enhanced by the relative comparison with her two main rivals: both of whom have zero national security/foreign policy experience and have served a combined 9 years in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden entered the Senate in 1972 at the age of thirty (13 years younger than Obama when he took office in 2004) and is the Chairman - and one of the longest serving members - of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Put simply, Biden has probably forgotten more about US foreign policy than the three most likely winners of Iowa know about the subject put together.