NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — Joe Biden’s angry confrontation with an Iowa man has echoes of an encounter three decades ago in which he mocked the intellect of an Iowa voter.

During his 1988 presidential bid, then-Delaware Sen. Biden confronted a New Hampshire voter who asked where Biden went to law school and where he placed in his class.

"I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect. I went to law school on a full academic scholarship," Biden, the future vice president, said in 1987. "I'd be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours if you'd like."





Biden ended his first presidential bid following the revelation that he plagiarized parts of speeches and in a paper that he wrote during his first year in law school.

The New Hampshire man from the 1987 confrontation, Frank Fahey, endorsed Biden's 2020 bid earlier this year.

"I like his honesty,” Fahey told WMUR. Biden apologized to him for the incident during his 2008 presidential bid, Fahey said. "He said, ‘You're Frank Fahey,’ and he knew right off, and he said, ‘I want to apologize.’ He said, ‘I was way out of line that day.'"

On Thursday, Biden, 77, called a voter who questioned his age and his son Hunter's position on a Ukrainian gas company board company a "liar" and challenged him to feats of strength or intellect.

“Look, the reason I’m running is because I’ve been around a long time," Biden said. "Let’s do push-ups together here, man. Let’s run, let’s do whatever you want to do, let’s take an IQ test."

The 83-year-old voter refused to tell reporters his name but said he is a registered independent and will not vote for Biden.

"You're too old to vote for me," Biden said.

After the town hall event, the voter said that Biden is "senile anyhow."

