Former Vice President Joe Biden tells a Decorah audience, "We have to restore the soul of this country"

Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden delivered a speech at a Decorah campaign rally Friday night that was quiet, personal and contemplative.

Biden told an audience of more than 300 people that "the character of America is on the ballot (next November)."  His speech focused on the actions of President Donald Trump, whom Biden says has tried to divide Americans in an attempt to get more power for himself.  "The damage he's done is hard to calculate," Biden told the crowd at the Hotel Winneshiek.

Biden called on those attending the speech to "think about who we are and what we live for."  He predicted that the nation can't stay divided and that we shouldn't walk around with our heads down because there's not a thing we can't do as a country.

The former Vice President told the audience the second reason he's running to become President is to restore the middle class in America.  Biden said the middle class--both in rural and urban settings--is in trouble, which has opened the door for demagogues to find scapegoats to blame for the trouble, even though they're not the cause.

Prior to Biden's speech, former Secretary of State John Kerry--himself a Presidential candidate in 2004--endorsed Biden as someone with "guts, grits, determination and decency" and called Biden "uniquely the person to beat Donald Trump."