By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

CQ Politics Presidential Race Rating: Democrat Favored

Electoral Votes: 3

Many Delaware residents hoped for a chance to vote this fall to send Joseph R. Biden Jr. , the state’s six-term senior senator, to the White House. Yet the quick demise of Biden’s presidential bid, which never gained traction, has hardly hindered Barack Obama from establishing himself as a strong favorite to extend the Democrats’ presidential winning streak in Delaware to five elections.

Biden, who is an overwhelming favorite to win re-election to the Senate this November, has been heavily touted as a possible vice presidential pick; his advocates contend that Biden, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, could help Obama quell questions raised by Republican rival John McCain about his degree of experience on defense and foreign affairs. While other names have been mentioned more prominently of late in the “veepstakes,” there is nothing under Delaware law that would prevent Biden from running for both vice president and the Senate this year.

It wasn’t too long ago that Delaware was a presidential battleground. In every election from 1952 through 1996, its electoral votes went to the person who won the White House. As recently as 1988, Delaware favored Republican George H.W. Bush for president while its voters re-elected Republicans Michael N. Castle as governor and William V. Roth Jr. as senator.

But that was the last year in which the GOP prevailed in either a race for president — the state has gone Democratic since, regardless of which party won the national election — or for governor.

Like the rest of the Northeast, Delaware has shifted decidedly Democratic, in part because of demographic changes that included the state’s absorption of residents from the more populous and Democratic-leaning states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. Black residents make up one-fifth of Delaware’s population, and their votes helped Obama win the Feb. 5 primary over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by 9 percentage points.

The sole major Republican survivor in statewide politics is Castle, who has held the state’s single House seat since his tenure as governor ran out in 1992. With Biden and Democrat Thomas R. Carper , another former governor, representing the state in the Senate, Castle is the lone Republican serving the state in Washington.

A prominent moderate, Castle survived in the national Democratic surge — the same year Carper was re-elected with 67 percent of the Senate vote — and is a lock to win a ninth term in November even though his constituents voted more strongly for 2004 Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry (53 percent) than those in any other House district presently represented by a Republican. CQ Politics rates his race as Safe Republican.

Biden, meanwhile, is a virtual shoo-in to win his Senate race this fall. His opponent is Republican Christine O’Donnell, a marketing consultant and political commentator who contends Biden’s 36-year tenure is too long. [@CQ Politics rates the race@http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=ratings-senate@] as Safe Democratic.

The GOP will make a more vigorous effort to capture the governorship now that Democrat Ruth Ann Minner has served her legally limited two terms. Republicans struggled to recruit a serious candidate but eventually found one in Bill Lee, a former judge who took 46 percent against Minner four years ago. He is nonetheless the underdog no matter who wins the Sept. 9 Democratic primary between Lt. Gov. John Carney and state Treasurer Jack Markell. CQ Politics’ rating: Democrat Favored.