Joseph R Jr

Four presidential candidates are lined up to visit Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" over the next three weeks as Comedy Central's satirical news review ramps up its "Indecision 2008" coverage. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Delaware Democrat, is first up this Wednesday. Biden appeared on "The Daily Show" last winter on the day he announced his candidacy. Republican Sen. John McCain makes his 10th appearance on Aug. 16, followed by another Republican, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, on Aug.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware said he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and planned to file paperwork that would allow him to begin raising money. Biden has said for months that he has been trying to determine whether he has enough political and financial support for a bid. Now he is taking the next step, setting up an exploratory committee. "I am running for president," Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

James Rubin, a longtime advisor to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, was named as State Department spokesman Friday. Rubin, 37, a former aide to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), was Albright's spokesman in her previous post as ambassador to the United Nations. The White House announced Rubin would be nominated as assistant secretary of State for public affairs. He will succeed Nicholas Burns, who officials said was expected to be nominated by President Clinton as ambassador to Greece.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved two anti-crime bills, voting to establish a national registry of convicted sex offenders and to make it a federal crime to cross state lines to harass or threaten someone. By voice vote, senators approved a measure by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) making it a felony to travel to another state to intimidate people or their immediate family. Also approved was a bill by Sens. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.

Four senators canceled a trip to Moscow today because the Kremlin denied a visa for an aide who had written a critical report on the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Sens. William S. Cohen (R-Me.), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) were to have left today for talks in Moscow with members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. John Ritch, an aide to Biden, was to accompany the delegation.

Four U.S. senators canceled a trip to the Soviet Union when a staff aide was denied a visa because a report he wrote about Soviet intervention in Afghanistan angered Soviet officials. John Ritch, an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who visited Afghanistan last year, cited reports of atrocities there. Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.) said the trip was canceled because "we cannot allow the Soviets to engage in manipulation of a Senate delegation."