United States:Democratic senator Joseph Biden has launched his 2008 presidential bid with an apology for comments he made about rival candidate Barack Obama.
Mr Biden (64) told the weekly New York Observerthat Mr Obama was "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Mr Biden, a senator for more than 30 years who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, insisted he meant no offence to Mr Obama, whom he later called to apologise.
Mr Obama issued a statement saying that he did not take the comments personally.
"But obviously they were historically inaccurate. African-American candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate," Mr Obama said.
Dismissing Mr Biden's remarks as "blabbering bluster", Mr Jackson pointed out that, when both men competed in the Democratic primaries in 1988, the African-American civil rights leader won more support.
Mr Sharpton said that when Mr Biden called him to apologise, Mr Sharpton reassured him about his washing habits. "I told him I take a bath every day," Mr Sharpton said.
In his interview with the New York Observer, Mr Biden also criticised Hillary Rodham Clinton, suggesting that she could not be elected president.
"Everyone in the world knows her. Her husband has used every single legitimate tool in his behalf to lock people in, shut people down. Legitimate. And she can't break out of 30 per cent for a choice for Democrats? Where do you want to be? Do you want to be in a place where 100 per cent of the Democrats know you? They've looked at you for the last three years. And four out of 10 is the max you can get?" he said.