Biden held a town hall meeting at the ARC Fitness Center Tuesday morning. Supporters started lining up at 6:30 a.m., but Biden did not take the stage until three hours later.

The vice-presidential candidate talked about losing jobs to outsourcing, the Iraq war, and off-setting the high cost of education. Biden also said the Republican National Convention showed John McCain and Sarah Palin are not ready to lead the country.

"I did not hear anything about how we're going to help hundreds of thousands of students who can go to college be able to get to college," Biden said. "I didn't hear a thing. I didn't hear a single thing about how we're going to become energy independent."

Some Biden critics said they disagree.

"Senator McCain and Governor Palin have offered up solutions," said Tina Hervey of the Missouri Republican Party. "Obama and Senator Biden are both the 'no doctors'. We say drill now, they say no. We say turn right, they say no."

Senator Biden received a warm welcome from the admittedly partisan crowd as he arrived to speak about issues like the economy and health care.

Along with a friend, Les Spencer of Rolla started a campaign "Rednecks for Obama" to reach out to an audience that wouldn't normally vote for him and Biden.

"I'll be honest with you," Spencer said. "Right at first, I was for Biden for President whenever the primaries started. Then Obama picked up steam, and Biden didn't quite get the traction, so I went with Obama, and now I got both of them. So it worked out perfect for me."

Supporters think Obama and Biden are the right men for the jobs.

"I have every confidence that he [Biden] would be able to handle the job if something terrible would happen to the President," said supporter Patricia Doss.

Biden supporter Jennifer Claxton says she agreed with Biden's speech.

"It was very hopeful and very inspiring," Claxton said. "I think a lot of us really know Barack Obama, and some of us are still getting to know Senator Biden. This was one of those experiences for me. I really got to learn about what he wanted to contribute to the campaign, his past history."

"It was really a pleasure to hear him. He's an excellent speaker, a very articulate person, said a lot of things that I agree with so that was nice to hear, and just did it so well," said another Biden supporter Sally Marble.

After speaking in Columbia this morning, Biden went on to St. Louis County where another town hall meeting was held.