BIDEN SAYS HE'S RUNNING

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden made it official today. He's running for president. The Democrat made the announcement on NBC's Meet the Press.

There was no coyness. Just a simple yes I'm running and I'll file the papers by the end of the month.

Biden, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, no doubt will run on his foreign-policy experience and senior statesman status.

CLINTON HAS HIGHEST 'FAVORABLE' RATING IN LATEST CBS POLL

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has the highest 'favorable' rating in a CBS News poll released over the weekend at 43%. She's also near the top in the 'unfavorable' category, at 38%. Both figures have alot to do with the fact that she is well known to the electorate.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain have the highest rating among Republicans.

The ratings for the last two Democratic presidential nominees, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and former V.P. Al Gore are more negative than positive.

Former Democratic V.P. candidate John Edwards, who has already announced his decision to run, has the second-highest favorable rating amng Democrats at 32%.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has a 28/10 favorable-unfavorable rating, but more than six in ten Americans say they don't know enough about him to offer an opinion.

Joe Biden, who announced today, is not well-known despite his many years in the Senate. Some 77% say they don't know enough about him to have an opinion.

All other candidates, Democrat and Republican, have "don't know/no opinion" ratings of 85% or higher.

Click here to see the complete PDF of poll results.

RELIGIOUS RIGHT FEELING LEFT OUT

Time magazine reports this week the religious right seems to be a cause without a candidate for the 2008 presidential race. With Rick Santorum and George Allen on the scrap heap, Time says evangelicals appear to like Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, but have doubts he can win, while they're not too thrilled with the other likely candidates.