Biden plans TV ads to boost Iowa candidacy

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden plans to air television ads in Iowa on Wednesday, touting his plan to end the Iraq war and his history of overcoming personal tragedy.

With the pair of ads, which will cost more than $1 million to run, Biden will seek to bolster his candidacy in the weeks before Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses.

The Delaware Democrat, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is running fifth among Democrats, behind Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Bill Richardson, according to a recent Des Moines Register poll.

Biden's ad focusing on his life experience will cite "how that prepares a candidate for the challenges that the country is facing," said spokesman Larry Rasky. They include the loss in an auto accident of Biden's wife and infant daughter when he was a young senator, and his later struggle with two near-fatal brain aneurysms. *