Biden adviser to take Senate seat

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Ted Kaufman will replace Vice President-elect Joe Biden in the U.S. Senate, Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner announced at a news conference Monday.

Kaufman, a longtime Biden adviser, is seen as a placeholder until 2010 when Beau Biden, the vice president-elect's son and Delaware's attorney general, can run, The Hill reported. Beau Biden is in Iraq and had said he didn't want to be appointed to his father's Senate seat.

Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and ran for re-election this year concurrent with his run on the presidential ticket.