Biden not worried about Southern Dems

Says Delaware's 'slave state' background will help him

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updated 10:14 a.m. ET Aug. 28, 2006

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joseph Biden says he can hold his own in a 2008 presidential primary against Democratic contenders from the South, noting that his home state of Delaware was a "slave state."

Biden dismissed the notion that he was a "Northeastern liberal" who would have a poor showing in the South against other likely contenders such as Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

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Delaware status
"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

The last three Democrats to win the presidency - Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson - came from the southern states of Arkansas, Georgia and Texas, respectively.