(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More Democratic Party supporters in the United States are backing Hillary Rodham Clinton as a presidential contender, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 33 per cent of respondents would vote for the New York senator in a 2008 primary, up two points in a week.

Illinois senator Barack Obama is second with 19 per cent, followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 10 per cent, and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore with eight per cent.

On Jan. 31, Delaware senator Joe Biden—chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—announced he will be running for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a newspaper column that day, Biden referred to Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." He also criticized Edwards and Rodham Clinton for their ideas on how to handle the Iraq war.

Yesterday, Biden apologized for his comments about Obama, saying, "I deeply regret any offence my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Senator Obama." Biden ran for the White House in 1988, but his candidacy ended amid accusations that he plagiarized a speech, and with a serious health condition that sent him to hospital.

In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. In November 2004, Republican George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry received 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.

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