Biden says race about ideas, not money

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden said Monday that the race for the White House is more about ideas than the huge amounts of money being raised by many of the other candidates.

Biden said voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — states that will cast the first votes of the nominating season next year — are looking for a knowledgeable candidate who can lead the country.

"I am absolutely convinced that this is about ideas, and it's not about money," he told about 900 people at the Delaware Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Money and prestige have dominated the race so far, he said, but ideas will matter.

Biden has represented the state in the Senate for nearly 35 years, and is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He is considered a knowledgeable voice on international relations, and has been pushing a plan to end the conflict in Iraq by carving the country into three distinct states, with a central government located in Baghdad.

He may have ideas, but it's money he lacks.

Biden raised more than $6 million through the end of September, but had less than $1 million on hand. Rivals and Senate colleagues Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama together raised more than $150 million during the period.

Biden said the idea of a candidate raising $85 million to $90 million is "astounding," but that he still considered it a level playing field in the early primary states. He said those voters care what a candidate has to say.

Biden said the next president's term will determine whether America "regains its footing and reinvigorates the middle class or continues on this spiral that this administration has put us into."

"The American people know that this president has dug us into a very, very deep hole," Biden said.

He acknowledged the tough road ahead, and compared the Democratic primary to his successful 1972 Senate race when, as a 28-year-old upstart, he defeated popular Republican incumbent and former Delaware Gov. Caleb Boggs.

"I am not on a fool's errand; I realize I need your help," said Biden, who predicted that the top three finishers in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 will live to fight on, while the others will cease to be viable candidates.