Senator tests Kansas waters for 2008 presidential bid

The indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney’s adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby will distract the administration and the country, a Democratic presidential hopeful told a Lawrence audience Friday.

“This is not good for anybody,” U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, of Delaware, said Friday while stopping in Lawrence to test the waters for a 2008 presidential bid with a talk to more than 500 people at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Biden’s speech was the first of a new lecture series titled “Contenders,” which features politicos considering the nation’s highest office. Other speakers have not been announced.

Biden, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, recently announced his intentions to seek his party’s 2008 nomination if he decides by the end of this year he can raise enough money and attract enough support.

Biden also discussed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’ exit from consideration.

“I think she got a raw deal,” said Biden, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings on judicial nominees. “Whether or not she was qualified, she had a distinguished career.”

Biden said he didn’t focus on whether Miers had judicial experience. But it remained unclear where Miers’ excellence lay.

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., speaks as part of the Dole Institute's Contenders series Friday at Kansas University. Biden has indicated that he may seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and would spend the next year speaking across the country and testing his message.

In the confirmation process that was cut short by her withdrawal from consideration, Miers’ 15 minutes of fame became 15 minutes of a caricature, Biden said.

“The way they rolled her out was so unfair to her,” he said.

Switching gears to foreign affairs, Biden called for a new approach to U.S. foreign policy.

He said the nation needed to rebuild an effective international alliance, develop a prevention strategy that includes boosting funds for homeland security and bolster failed states.

“We have to be strong and smart at the same time,” he said.

Nate Thames, a KU senior and officer with KU Young Democrats, said Biden was a bit too moderate for his liking but did have a “cogent sense of foreign policy.” And, Thames said, “he worked the crowd very well.”