Joe Biden asks the crowd to imagine if Barack Obama was murdered

Recalling the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, former Vice President Joe Biden asked an audience Friday to ponder what would have happened if former President Barack Obama had been killed before the 2008 elections.

Speaking passionately about his last year in law in 1968, Biden remembers how Kennedy and King, his two political heroes, were murdered a few weeks apart. Kennedy was killed while he ran for president and was presumed candidate in this year's elections.

"My first half, they were both shot," Biden told the crowd in Hanover, New Hampshire. "Imagine what would have happened if, God forbid, Barack Obama had been murdered after becoming the de facto candidate, what would have happened in America?"

Biden spoke of how the upheaval of his youth had propelled him into a political career. He was successfully elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1972.

Biden's words were considered controversial, with Obama being the first black president of the United States and choosing Biden as his vice-presidential candidate.

Biden also revealed that many people thought that he was gay because of his support for the amendment regarding equal rights in the 1970s.

"I remember because I was such a big supporter of ERA in 1972, quote – to show you how things have changed, thank God -" Well, you know why Biden is for the # ER, he's probably gay. "Not a joke," Biden said.

Although Biden is considered the favorite in the race and the leader in the polls, he has been criticized for his age and his tendency to make controversial comments.