OS ANGELES - Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was not coy about his dates to speak to the New Hampshire and Iowa delegations this week.
''I've stayed out of national politics, but now I'm back in the game,'' the Delaware Democrat said in an interview on the convention floor. ''That doesn't mean I'll run again. Hopefully, we'll have it'' - the White House - ''for another eight years. But I'm back in the game.''
The 57-year-old Biden, who made a brief run for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination before dropping out after a series of missteps, is one of several prominent Democrats from Vice President Al Gore's generation who are taking advantage of the party gathering to meet with political leaders from the states that choose the first delegates every four years. Just in case.
While the Republican national convention moved monolithically to the beat of Governor George W. Bush to the exclusion of any 2004 GOP hopefuls, the Democrats have not tried to hide faces that might show up on a future ticket.
A host of senators as well as 80 congressional candidates have been given speaking opportunities from the convention podium. One of the most conspicuous Democrats in Los Angeles is the House minority leader, Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who also ran for the 1988 nomination and who has never given up his national hopes.
''I think he'd like to keep his options open,'' said Bill Carrick, a Los Angeles political consultant who managed Gephardt's presidential campaign 12 years ago. ''He's a national leader.''
However, Carrick cautioned against making too much of Gephardt's meetings with the New Hampshire and Iowa delegations. ''He spent two years of his life in those states'' preparing for the 1988 campaign. ''He's visiting with old friends. He's really focusing on winning back the House this fall.''
Still, the morning caucuses of the New Hampshire group have become one of the busiest venues this week. The delegates are hearing from Biden, Gephardt, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.
Does this mean these men are making preliminary moves for 2004? ''Oh, God, no,'' said Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. ''Every one of them has a lot of friends in New Hampshire. Gephardt is helping in one of our congressional races. Biden has old friends from '88. Dodd has always had a strong connection with our state. He was up for a St. Patrick's Day parade and spoke at a Democratic event in Manchester earlier this year.''
Kerry, a neighbor and a finalist for the vice presidential slot this year, spoke to the Granite State delegation on Monday. ''He came and talked about Al Gore,'' Sullivan said, instead of himself.
Nevertheless, the appearance of ambitious Democratic figures at the New Hampshire and Iowa events invariably stirs speculation.
After Governor Gray Davis of California hosted a party here for Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire before the convention got under way, the event encouraged the idea that Davis might have his eyes on a higher prize in 2004. But Shaheen said Davis, a colleague in the Democratic Governors Association, ''actually did it at my request'' to help her state party.
The officials who are spending time with the New Hampshire delegation, she said, ''have relationships with the state. We're not reading anything into this.''
The delegation from Iowa, which traditionally selects the first convention delegates in a statewide caucus, will be visited by Gephardt and Biden. Both spent months in the Midwest state during the early stages of their presidential campaigns. In fact, Gephardt won the Iowa caucus in 1988, turning him into a nationally known figure.
But Tom Miller, Iowa attorney general, said there was nothing overt about their appearances this year. ''They simply have a lot of friends in the state,'' he said.
