Vice President Joe Biden made a visit to the Triad today, with a speech at Wake Forest Biotech Place in Winston-Salem, attended by about 600 people. WFDD's Steve Biddle reports...

After a few words from Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines and an introduction by Carolina Liquid Chemicals President Phil Shugart, the Vice President dove right into what was part campaign speech and part pep rally... He likened the region to his own hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and said that what that area had gone through with the boom and bust in coal, the Triad had experienced with tobacco and textiles. He expressed admiration for the people of North Carolina, and the Triad....

Biden: The folks in North Carolina are fighters. The American people are fighters. And standing here in this research park, it's evident that you know how to fight. Back in the 90s, you decided that you were going to adapt by combining two resources you have here in abundance. The first was great universities and universities. University, in the case of Wake Forest, and universities, in the colleges around this park. And an incredibly talented workforce.

Biden hammered home the message that the Obama administration has seen 27 straight months of growth, and created millions of jobs, despite obstructionists in Congress... and, Biden pledged that the administration would continue to act...

Biden: We will use every power that is legally under our constitutional capacity to act when the Congress will not act. But understand: Our Republican friends in Congress are just as determined to not act.

The Vice President spoke for about 26 minutes... and then made an unnanounced stop at Wolfie's Frozen Custard on 4th Street...

Biden: I'll have one dip of vanilla and one scoop of dark chocolate...

There, he chatted with some of the customers, and congratulated one boy on his fifth grade graduation. Steve Biddle WFDD News Winston-Salem