Delaware Sen. Joe Biden - who has a reputation as loose-lipped and long-winded - made another gaffe this week when he called Barack Obama, an opponent in the Democratic presidential race, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and is a nice-looking guy."

The comments, made in an interview with the New York Observer, have focused attention on the longtime senator's garrulous ways, resurrecting past Biden blunders (none more notorious than Biden's withdrawal from the 1988 presidential race amid charges of plagiarism). This latest flap, longtime Biden observers said, simply results from too much of a good thing: Biden's love of his own voice.

"As a longtime Delawarian, this doesn't surprise anybody here. We've been here before," said John Sweeney, editorial page editor for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. "It's just part of being Joe Biden. He gets carried away."

Biden went on the offensive yesterday, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews and calling Al Sharpton's radio show. Biden said he intended to compliment Obama and in no way meant to disparage past African-American presidential candidates.

Biden also spoke with Jesse Jackson yesterday. Jackson has said that he didn't think the comments were intended to be "off-color."

"I say what I think. I sometimes say things inartfully," Biden said on Hardball. "I think this election, part of what it's going to be about is authenticity and ideas."

So far, the slip-up hasn't pushed Biden out of the presidential race, and several political observers predicted yesterday that interest in the remarks would fade. "There are worse things that have happened in this world," said Bill Shaheen, a longtime state Democratic powerbroker. "I think everyone still has a chance. I don't write epitaphs for people."

Over the years, Biden's tongue has been an asset as well as a liability. In the late 1980s, he won praise for his handling of Judge Robert Bork's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. In recent months, Biden has made the television talk-show rounds to tout his plan to quell the violence in Iraq.

"Whether you agree with him or not is immaterial," Sweeney said of Biden's proposal for Iraq, which would split Iraq along ethnic lines, keeping a central government only for common interests. "He is a little more substantive on Iraq than the other leading candidates."

Biden voted to authorize the war, but he has since become a vocal critic of President Bush's handling of the conflict. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was one of the first prominent national lawmakers to propose a fix for the country.

But on several occasions, Biden's love of holding court with unscripted lines (he can spend 45 minutes answering one question) has left him scrambling to explain his comments.

Several of Biden's New Hampshire supporters from his 1988 campaign criticized the reaction to Biden's comments as the work of an over-exuberant press eager for the slightest hint of controversy. "I think the press has blown this way out of proportion," said Pat Russell of Keene, who was a member of the Democratic National Committee when Biden last ran for president.

That said, Biden "says it the way it is, and sometimes he says too much. A brilliant man in my opinion, and a nice guy. He talks too long, but he knows it," Russell said. "He was here in June, with about 25 people, and he was still talking too much."

This week, several African-American leaders reacted angrily to Biden's remarks, which included barbs aimed at New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

As for the "clean" comment, former presidential candidate Sharpton assured Biden that he bathes daily, according to the New York Times. Obama said that he didn't take Biden's comments personally, but deemed them "historically inaccurate."

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