Delaware Sen. Joe Biden officially entered the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, saying he has a "comprehensive plan" to resolve the war in Iraq.

Biden, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, officially filed the necessary papers with the U.S. Federal Elections Commission to set up a presidential campaign committee.

"After nine months of doing this, there is no exploratory committee — I'm running," Biden told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

The race includes such high profile candidates as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Biden, however, is promoting his foreign policy experience.

On his campaign website, Biden features a "real plan for Iraq," alongside a map of the country and a link to an e-mail petition that demands that no more troops be sent to Iraq.

"In my view, President Bush has dug America into a very deep hole," Biden said in a video statement on the website. "This administration's mishandling of the war in Iraq may be the greatest foreign policy disaster of all time."

Biden said the next U.S. president must be prepared to end U.S. involvement in Iraq immediately upon taking office because failure to do so would deepen regional instability in the Middle East.

In 2002, Biden voted to authorize military intervention in Iraq, but has since spoken out repeatedly to criticize U.S. handling of the conflict. He said the biggest concern of the majority of Americans is resolving the deteriorating situation there.

Biden said in the video statement that he thinks it is time for a new focus on issues that affect working people in America.

"To restore America's place in the world, we also must focus on the hopes and needs of our own people," he said.

Biden said he hopes to raise about $20 million to run a competitive race in the early primaries next year. Analysts have said they think Clinton and Obama should be able to raise $100 million each this year.

The Delaware senator ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but abandoned the race after allegations that his speeches contained passages that were plagiarized.

With files from the Associated Press