Is Biden looking to move out of the pack?

I caught a bit of Countdown last night. The segment reported on how Hilary was less unpopular than anyone else on the Republican side. Interesting news from the polls, but even as Hilary seems to have got a handle on the Democratic side there appear some fissures.

E.J. Dionne's October 2 column, The Value of an Exit Strategy, spotlighted the success of Biden's non-binding resolution calling for a federal Iraqi government.

Biden's clarity stands as a challenge not only to Bush but also to Clinton, Obama and Edwards. At a debate last Wednesday, each of them refused to pledge that American troops would be out of Iraq even by the end of her or his first term. If the troops will still be there, what strategy would they be advancing? If not federalism or "soft partition," what? Clinton, by the way, voted for the Biden resolution, while Obama missed the vote. Would federalism be Clinton's approach, too?

And if Biden is creating pressure on the front-runners from one direction, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico is beginning to gain traction on the left with his commitment to withdrawing all troops "in six to eight months," as he wrote last month in The Post.