Biden sticks his oar in the water
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Biden says he would back Kerry or Clark
By Lori Santos, Reuters, 9/22/2003
WASHINGTON - Senator Joseph Biden, a onetime Democratic presidential contender, said yesterday he was inclined to support either his colleague, Senator John F. Kerry, or retired General Wesley K. Clark, who quickly moved to the head of the 2004 Democratic field in a new poll.
Biden, who opted out of making a bid to unseat President George Bush, had nothing but praise for another Senate colleague, former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was supported by one-third of potential voters in the Newsweek poll released yesterday.
``She's a very powerful figure in our party. She's very well-liked, and she's very, very smart,'' Biden told ``Fox News Sunday.''
With a new Time magazine report renewing speculation that Clinton, New York's junior senator, might get in the race, Biden said she could not be dismissed as the potential nominee to face Bush.
``She'd surely be taken seriously,'' he said. ``This is one of the few people in all of America who's known by every single American. The good news is the bad news: Everybody has an opinion.''
The Newsweek poll found Democrats were more inclined to support Clinton than any of the 10 candidates now in the race. If she were to enter, which she has said she would not do, 33 percent said she would be their first choice.
Another 28 percent said they would support former vice president Al Gore, who has also said he would not run.
But Clark entered the race last Thursday and moved promptly to the forefront of the declared candidates, winning support from 14 percent registered Democrats and Democratic leaners.
Clark outpaced former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who had 12 percent. Following were Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, 12 percent; Kerry of Massachusetts, 10 percent; and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, 8 percent.
``The two people I'm most inclined to support are Kerry or Clark,'' Biden said. ``And, look, this is a wide-open race ... I believe to be wide open all the way to January of this year.''
Biden attributed much of Clark's quick showing to his being ``a brand-new element,'' as did Senator John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat and presidential aspirant who had support of 6 percent.
``This campaign is just beginning,'' Edwards said on CBS's ``Face the Nation.'' ``I think this race is completely wide open.''
Biden entered the 1988 presidential race but quit in September 1987 after his campaign was rocked by allegations of plagiarism in some of his speeches and false claims about his academic achievements.
The Delaware Democrat said ``time is going to tell whether or not [Clark's] actual performance meets his resume. I think it will. This is a very serious guy, very smart guy, and I think that he is a significant addition to the Democratic field.''
Time magazine reported that former President Clinton has been urging his wife, elected to the Senate in 2002, to run and is pondering how she could back out of her repeated pledge to serve out her six-year term.
Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted the Newsweek poll and interviewed 1,001 adults by telephone Sept. 18-19. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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