hardly comparable to palin's stunt

Biden meets with Georgian president without press

MILWAUKEE - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden met with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Friday but didn't let reporters in as the pair posed for photographers at the beginning of the session.

The decision to allow only photographers, and no reporters, into the meeting briefly at its start recalled a similar move by Biden's Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, earlier this week. Some of the news media that cover Palin's vice presidential campaign protested and got the restriction dropped.

Phil Walzak, a spokesman for Democrat Barack Obama's campaign, said the Biden-Saakashvili meeting was a private session between the senator and a head of state. He said they would likely issue a statement after the meeting but they won't take questions from reporters.

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Biden was obviously planning a quiet meeting, not the photo op that Palin's people staged.