Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware today joined the crowded field of Democratic contenders angling to win the 2008 White House race, arguing his foreign policy experience put him a step ahead.
"I'm not exploring, I'm in and this is the beginning of a marathon," Mr Biden told ABC's "Good Morning America." He also launched a Web site for the campaign: http://www.joebiden.com/.
Mr Biden, a six-term senator, is the eighth Democrat to enter the 2008 White House race, and often registers in the low single digits in polls behind Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
He had kind words for Mr Clinton from New York and Obama from Illinois today, saying Clinton was "fully qualified to be president" and Mr Obama was "incredible ... really bright."
But Mr Biden said he was confident he was competitive.
"It's not so much whether I can compete with their money, but whether they can compete with my ideas and my experience," he said. Mr Biden lost a bid in 1988 for the Democratic nomination.
With Democrats now in control of Congress, Mr Biden heads the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee where he has criticized the Bush administration for its approach to the war in Iraq.
He sponsored a non-binding resolution approved by his panel last week opposing President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more US troops to Iraq as part of an effort to reduce unrelenting violence.
"The American public understands the next president is going to have to be prepared to immediately step in and act without hesitation to end our involvement in the Iraqi conflict," Mr Biden said in the interview.