WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing criticism, potential 2008 presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday defended his recent remark that "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." The Delaware senator said his words were taken out of context.
On a recent edition of the C-SPAN series "Road to the White House," Biden is shown in New Hampshire boasting about his support among Indian-Americans.
"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," the senator said.
The clip made its way through cyberspace this week and caught fire in Washington, where Biden is known as one of the more long-winded senators.
Visiting troops and officials in Iraq this week, Biden was asked about the comment during an interview with CNN's "The Situation Room."
The senator said he has had an "incredibly strong" relationship with the Indian-American community in Delaware and that his comment was misinterpreted.
"I was making the point that up until now in my state, we've had a strong Indian community made up of leading scientists and researchers and engineers," Biden said. Lately, he said: "We're having middle- class people move to Delaware, take over Dunkin' Donuts, take over businesses, just like other immigrant groups have, and I was saying that ... they're growing, it's moving."
"I could have said that 40 years ago about walking into a delicatessen and saying an Italian accent in my state," Biden added.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)—John Edwards, a White House hopeful, focused on the problem of predatory lenders in his first swing through Iowa since a statewide poll gave his potential presidential campaign a boost.
"What we're doing is focusing on what can be done to stop predatory lenders and payday lenders from preying on our most vulnerable families," said Edwards, who called for new regulations for an industry in which annual interest rates for payday loans can soar to 300 percent to 400 percent.
The 2004 vice presidential nominee spent Friday raising money for Democratic candidate David Loebsack's long-shot challenge against Rep. Jim Leach and meeting with activists at a Warren County barbecue.
In his 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Edwards scored a surprising second-place showing in Iowa's caucuses, giving him the momentum that eventually landed him on the ticket with the party's choice, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Soon after the Democrats lost, the former North Carolina senator returned to Iowa and has been rebuilding his campaign organization. A poll for the Des Moines Register last month showed Edwards leading the still evolving Democratic field, with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton second, Kerry third and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack fourth.
"It was encouraging," Edwards said. "It means I still have some very good friends in Iowa, which I appreciate."
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Associated Press Writer Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
