Former Candidate Visits Offices in 3 States : Biden Apologizes to Campaign Workers

The blue and white “88” painted on the windows had been covered with a cardboard “92,” but tears overshadowed hope Thursday as Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. returned to his soon-to-be shuttered presidential campaign headquarters here to comfort die-hard loyalists.

Biden scrapped his drive for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday amid revelations he had misrepresented his educational background and plagiarized speeches of other politicians.

But after formally bowing out, he made a last, melancholy swing through election offices in Iowa, New Hampshire and Delaware to apologize in person to his backers for letting them down.

“He said he felt bad for us, bad for the staff,” said Robert DeBauche, a 24-year-old campaign field staffer after Biden emerged from a 20-minute closed door session with about 100 supporters here.

Mari Abern, 24, another of Biden’s youthful corps of field workers, said she sobbed so hard she could hear little of what Biden said. “He saw me crying and came over and put his arms on my shoulders and gave me a kiss,” she said.

Gesture Touches Workers

Workers said they were genuinely touched by Biden’s gesture in visiting them and most said they would work for him again if they got the chance. And they gave him a reception fit for a candidate on a roll rather than one whose campaign had just fizzled.

They waved campaign banners and cheered as Biden entered the campaign headquarters with his wife, Jill. His voice cracking with emotion, Biden accepted sole blame for the demise of his campaign and praised backers for their dedication.

Speaking later to reporters, Biden said he did not blame any of his six Democratic rivals for sabotoging his campaign nor did he try to steer supporters to enlist with any particular candidate.

“Look, I made a mistake and when you make a mistake you pay,” Biden said. “ . . . I feel badly not for me. I feel badly for those people in there. My political future’s secure. Those people in there gave up their livelihoods to come work for me. They changed their lives.”

Remembers Mother’s Warning

Biden said he told workers in the private session that one of his admitted gaffes--a flap during which he inflated his academic record while chewing out a questioner at a meeting in New Hampshire--reminded him of a warning his mother gave him repeatedly when he was a boy. “Joey Biden, someday your temper’s going to get you in real trouble,” Biden recalled his mother saying. “It sure did and hopefully I’ve learned from it.”

Biden was asked if he would have done anything differently if he had it to do over again.

“Yeah, I’d ask Neil Kinnock to come campaign for me,” Biden replied.

His response was a joking reference to the British Labor Party leader whom he quoted without attribution during an Iowa debate last month, touching off the controversy over his plagiarism of other politicians’ quotations.

In Manchester, N.H., later in the day, Biden told a small group of supporters and campaign workers: “This is not a funeral. I don’t want you sitting this one out. You should get involved in the 1988 race.”

They responded “We’re with you Joe” as the senator left the room to talk to reporters.

Ted Kaufman, chief of staff and treasurer for Biden’s campaign, said he believes the now-abandoned campaign will break even financially and hopes it will not need matching money from the Treasury to pay off debts. Kaufman said the senator had raised about $3.7 million, which “will probably be pretty much what his campaign expenditures were. It could go $20,000 or $30,000 either way.”

Staff writer Keith Love contributed to this story from New Hampshire.