Joe Biden wishes tongue-in-cheek "good luck" to Rick Santorum at New Hampshire dinner

CONCORD, N.H. - For months, the political headlines in the state that will host the nation's first presidential primary on Jan. 10 have been dominated by Republicans hoping to win their party's nomination to challenge President Obama. On Thursday, one prominent Democrat swooped in to grab some of the attention.

Keynoting a First Amendment award dinner sponsored by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, Vice President Biden lavished praise on journalism and the reach of the Internet - which he called an important tool despite the administration's heartburn over WikiLeaks' use of it to reveal embarrassing diplomatic secrets.

And Biden worked in a shout out for one of the Republican candidates, his former Senate colleague Rick Santorum, spotted working the crowd moments before Biden began to speak.

"Rick, if he is here, good luck old buddy," Biden said of the former Pennsylvania senator. "I hope you do better than I did."

Biden didn't even make it to New Hampshire in 2008: He dropped out of the race after receiving less than one percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses.

Earlier in the day, Biden addressed military veterans in Manchester.