He was a senator from Delaware, which is basically the same thing as a Representative, except that he only had to run for office every 6 years instead of every 2 years.
Being from Delaware (isolated) and then being VP (in the shadows), as a member of a party which is protected by the media (further in the shadows), he could hide his weakness. Whenever he runs for president, he gets exposed. He has never seemed sharp to me.
But, he does relate to Joe Lunchbox, like Trump does.