Biden takes middle class message to Minn.

ST. CLOUD, Minn., March 19 (UPI) -- Vice President Joe Biden traveled to St. Cloud, Minn., for a town hall meeting Thursday on how the stimulus plan will help the middle class.

Biden, who heads the White House task force on the middle class, toured the New Flyer of America bus factory with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other members of the cabinet and attended a 90-minute town hall meeting, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported.

Many of the questions at the town hall were very specific, the report said.

One man wanted to know whether money from the stimulus package would be available to bring commuter rail to St. Cloud, and the audience applauded when Biden promised the line will get there. The mayor of Apple Valley, Mary Hamann-Roland, wanted to know about buying new buses.

Biden also touted the stimulus plan and other parts of President Barack Obama's economic plan in general terms.

"Things were a lot worse than anyone expected in this economy," he said. "We need a very long ladder to get ourselves out of a very deep hole."

Biden also reportedly had a private meeting with former Vice President Walter Mondale and did a telephone interview with Mondale's daughter, Eleanor, for her show on WCCO in Minneapolis.