Biden eyeing 2008 run for president

WASHINGTON -- Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. said yesterday that he intends to run for the White House in 2008, two decades after he dropped out of a presidential campaign amid charges that he plagiarized a British politician's speech.

''My intention now is to seek the nomination," Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, said on CBS's ''Face the Nation." He said he would explore his support and decide by the end of this year, a sign the race may get an early and competitive start.

''If in fact I think I have a clear shot at winning the nomination, by this November or December, then I'm going to seek the nomination," he said.

Biden, 62, is the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent critic of President Bush's Iraq policy. He indicated his interest in the 2008 race in December saying that he would proceed as if he were running, but that he would take two years to decide.

Biden's potential challengers for the Democratic nomination could include New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has led in early polling; Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry, the nominee defeated by Bush in 2004; and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, Kerry's running mate.

Biden campaigned for the 1988 Democratic nomination but withdrew early in the race after charges that he plagiarized parts of a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock and exaggerated his academic record.

He recently criticized Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean, saying rhetoric he has used in attacking Republicans has gone too far.