In an address before a state Democratic fund-raising gala Friday night, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden urged the party faithful to reject the notion that Southerners are fundamentally at odds with the Democratic Party.

“If we can’t compete in the South, then we have to acknowledge this is a divided nation. I refuse to acknowledge that,” he said, meeting with reporters before the dinner.

Biden, from Delaware, is a potential presidential candidate for 2008.

“I may run,” he told the editorial board of The State newspaper earlier in the day.

But he also said, “I’m not sure I’m the horse that can carry the sleigh. ... I may be too centrist for my party.”

Biden was the keynote speaker at the party’s annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner, held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Some 750 party activists paid between $75 and $10,000 to attend.

State Democratic chairman Joe Erwin said the party raised about $150,000.

The party faithful were buoyed by a new poll showing Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s favorability ratings dropping.

Only 46 percent approved of the job he is doing; 51 percent said he is doing a fair to poor job.

The survey was conducted by Crantford and Associates, a Democratic polling firm based in Columbia.

“The governor is vulnerable. He doesn’t have a good record to run on,” Erwin said.

Only 39 percent said they would vote to re-elect Sanford.

The poll sampled 411 voters. It has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

“Sounds like they polled Democratic voters,” said Sanford spokesman Will Folks.

State Sen. Tom Moore, D-Aiken, is expected to announce today that he is a candidate for governor.

Florence Mayor Frank Willis also says he is considering it.

In an appeal to Southerners, Biden said the party would be making a huge mistake if it wrote off Dixie.

“This nation cannot stay divided for any extended period of time and reach the kind of potential it needs in the 21st century.

“It cannot be red and blue. This nation has to have a purple heart,” the senator said.

Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was asked what kind of reception the Republican Speaker of the House, David Wilkins of Greenville, would receive if nominated to be ambassador to Canada.

“I would expect he would receive a pretty good reception.” Biden replied. “He is known as an honorable man. He’s known as a man of integrity.

“My view is the president of the United States is entitled to his nominees unless they would reflect badly on the country or are totally lacking in confidence.

“And based on what I know — and I know not a great deal — of the speaker, he does not fall into either one of those categories.”

Reach Bandy at (803) 771-8648 or lbandy@thestate.com.