CAPITAL REGION — Local Democrats were pleased to hear that Sen. Joe Biden is Barack Obama’s pick for a running mate.

“I think it brings strong balance to the Democratic ticket,” said Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton, who will attend the Democratic convention this week in Denver — his first time voting at a national convention.

“I think that the biggest problem [Obama] faced was people just felt that he was inexperienced being a freshman senator,” Stratton said. “You can’t say you don’t know enough about Sen. Biden.”

Obama announced early Saturday that the senator from Delaware is his choice for vice president, on before the start of the Democratic National Convention.

Biden’s three decades in the Senate and experience in foreign policy fill any gaps that Obama might have as a freshman senator.

“He’s not someone that’s going to get pushed around,” said Larry Bulman, chairman of the Saratoga County Democratic Committee and a member of the state Democratic Committee’s executive committee. Bulman regrets that former nominees and their running mates — John Kerry and John Edwards and Al Gore and Joe Lieberman — were easily derailed by opponents.

Bulman thinks Biden can help polish the country’s image overseas, which has suffered in recent years. “People are upset with us as Americans. [Obama] recognizes that Sen. Biden will do a great job helping heal the wounds that we have with our allies overseas.

“That’s what he’s known for is his work in the Senate with foreign affairs and the military perspective,” Bulman added. He believes Biden would be able to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way.

Marcia Sullivan, an Obama delegate and chairwoman of the Fort Edward town Democratic Committee, said Biden’s personal story adds to his appeal. “He brings a sense of middle-class roots and someone who has suffered tragedy and bounced back to become far stronger and a better person.”

Obama’s pick also revealed a willingness to choose a former opponent, said Ron Kim, the Saratoga County coordinator for Obama’s presidential campaign and an alternate Clinton delegate at the convention.

“He’s said he wants to bring America together, and these are the kinds of things you have to do to accomplish that goal,” Kim said.

Bulman agreed that the union was a positive sign, citing Obama’s Saturday announcement speech. “He talked about the fact that he didn’t want someone who’s just a ‘yes’ person,” Bulman said.

And unlike presidential candidates who choose their running mate to get votes from the mate’s home state, Obama already has Delaware’s votes, so his choice is not superficial, Bulman said.

Stratton, Bulman and Kim are all pledged to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton but said they would change their vote to Obama if Clinton formally releases them from their pledges at the convention.

Bulman and Stratton said they did regret that Clinton wasn’t chosen as Obama’s running mate. “I was behind her all the way in her bid to gain the nomination,” Stratton said. “I look forward to any opportunity I get to see her and to thank her for representing our country so well and for running such a wonderful race.”

Sullivan also is looking forward to her first convention. “I’m so excited I can’t stand it. If I had to pick one that would be any more historic, I don’t think I could.”