MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Another potential Democratic White House candidate — Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware — visited New Hampshire on Tuesday and promised Democrats he would support keeping the state in the lead of early presidential primary states.

Biden was coy about whether he has made up his mind to seek the party's nomination in 2008 and told the New Hampshire Building Trades Council, "I'm here for the mayor."

He also said he wasn't sure whether he would vote to confirm Samuel Alito, President Bush's nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Regarding presidential ambitions, Biden said he has "been trying to figure out whether there's anybody in America but me who thinks that I should run for president."

But in June, Biden said he intends to seek the Democratic nomination and will determine this year whether he can win. Shortly afterward, he delivered what amounted to the first speech of the 2008 campaign, accusing President Bush of "misleading statements and premature declarations of victory" in Iraq.

Biden's appearance Tuesday was his first visit to the state this year, but he is no stranger to New Hampshire. He crisscrossed New Hampshire in 1988 while running for president and has visited the state since then.

"We've become disconnected from where we grew up. We used to get those middle-class votes," he said, but he also blamed Republicans because "they've convinced the American people, enough of them, that we are out of touch, that we don't believe in God, that we only care about gays and we don't have any connection with ordinary folks." And to cheers, he added, "And I want to tell you I'm sick and tired of it."

Stan Garrity, 52, a Manchester firefighter, said of Biden, "he's not quite from the South and he's not quite from the North" but "he presents himself very well. He's well spoken . I hope to heck he runs for president."

Asked later by a reporter whether he would vote to confirm Alito, Biden said "I don't know. I will vote against Alito if he doesn't answer the questions."

Biden said he agrees it is inappropriate to ask how a nominee would vote on specific cases but he added that "one of the things I hope we finally ended is the fiction that the nominees are not required to let the American people know how they view the Constitution and what methodology they will use."

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