Talking on the corporate greed issue on the second day of a campaign swing through Colorado, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Wednesday that if elected, he and Barack Obama will attack corporate greed, and go after executives who reward themselves at the expense of employees.

Biden said that it was unfair that employees of failed companies lose their pensions, while the corporate executives get paid millions of dollars.

Biden spoke to about 1,000 people at the Sierra High School gymnasium in heavily Republican Colorado Springs, home to a number of conservative evangelical organizations. He was introduced by Patricia Stiles, a self-described lifelong Republican, who said she is voting Democratic this year because her husband lost his job and his pension, when United Airlines reorganized under bankruptcy protection.

Although Colorado, with nine Electoral College votes, went Republican in the last three presidential elections, both campaigns are competing vigorously here this year.

Referring to a statement by Sarah Palin in North Carolina that she likes campaigning in “pro-American” regions of the country, Biden said it was wrong for Palin to question the patriotism of voters in states that support Obama.  

In a city that is home to Fort Carson, Peterson and Schreiver Air Force bases and the Air Force Academy, Biden said military families have paid a heavy price for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also noted that every state has residents who have died in battle, saying it is time to unite the country and restore dignity and respect, but it has to start with political unity.

Biden said: “This is not a red or blue nation; this is a purple heart nation.”