Democrat Beau Biden, Delaware’s Attorney General, said on national television Thursday that he is “absolutely” considering a run for the Senate in 2010. But Biden also made it clear that he isn’t in a rush to commit for the special election for the seat long held by his father, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Democratic officials are anxiously awaiting a decision by the younger Biden. They consider him their strongest prospect to prevent a takeover of the Senate seat by Republican Michael N. Castle, the longtime incumbent in the state’s only U.S. House seat and a former governor.

Castle, after mulling a bid for months, announced his candidacy on Oct. 6.

But the younger Biden, in an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” noted that he just recently returned to Delaware after spending a year fulfilling a military obligation in Iraq, and he wants to spend some time with his family and concentrate on his duties as Attorney General before deciding on his next move.