Joe Biden

aka Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

(1942–)

Joe Biden is the senior U.S. Senator from Delaware and the Vice President Elect serving under President Elect, Barack Obama.

During their first and only vice presidential debate, Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin squabbled over the economy, energy and Iraq while focusing most of their attacks on the candidates at the top of the tickets.

Biden repeatedly linked Republican presidential nominee John McCain to President George W. Bush. Palin painted Obama as "dangerous" on foreign policy. Both sought to claim the mantle of defender of the middle class.

"The economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policies we've ever had," Biden said. He blamed the lagging economy on Bush and criticized McCain's plan to extend Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

Palin defended McCain, saying her experience as governor of Alaska showed that cutting taxes can spur the economy. She criticized Biden and Obama for backing tax increases and outlining billions in new spending, saying it's a "backwards way of trying to grow our economy."

The debate was held October 2, 2008, at Washington University in St. Louis. Neither candidate committed the kind of serious error that some pundits had predicted. Palin, who experienced uneven performances in recent interviews, delivered clear and folksy responses. And Biden avoided run-on speeches and gaffes that have gotten him into trouble in the past.

Obama and McCain held their debates September 26 in Oxford, Mississippi, October 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, and October 15 in Hempstead, New York. Voters cast their ballots on Election Day, which is November 4.

Born Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he is of Irish Catholic heritage. Biden was the first of four children born to Joe, Sr., a car salesman, and Jean Biden. He was raised in Scranton and moved to New Castle County, Delaware, at age ten.

Biden, who overcame an embarrassing stutter, attended Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, a Catholic prep school. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware in 1965 and a law degree from Syracuse University in New York in 1968.

After graduating from law school, he returned to Delaware to work as a trial attorney at a law firm in Wilmington, serving as a public defender. He quickly turned to politics, serving on the New Castle county council from 1970 to 1972.

Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, becoming the fifth youngest senator in history. He narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Republican James Caleb "Cale" Boggs. Biden went on to win reelection five times with at least 58 percent of the vote and became Delaware's longest-serving senator.

Biden married Neilia Hunter in 1966. Shortly after he was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, his wife and infant daughter, Naomi (born 1971), died in a car accident while Christmas shopping. His two young sons, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III (born in 1969); and Robert Hunter (born in 1970), were seriously injured, but eventually recovered. Biden was sworn into office from their bedside in January 1973.

Biden thought about resigning to take care of his shattered family, but instead began commuting three-hours round trip each day on the train from his home in the Wilmington suburbs to Washington, D.C., a practice he continues to this day.

In 1977, Biden married Jill Tracy Jacobs, a schoolteacher. They have one daughter, Ashley (born 1981). The Bidens have five grandchildren.

As a senator, Biden focused on foreign relations, criminal justice, and drug policy. Since 1975, he has served on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, twice as its chair (2001; 2001-03; 2007-present).

As chairman of the Judiciary Committee between 1987 and 1995, he led the opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court nominations of conservatives Robert H. Bork, who was defeated, and Clarence Thomas, who was later confirmed.

Biden has repeatedly voted against "partial birth abortion," a late-term-pregnancy procedure and has opposed public funding of abortion. Biden supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Biden considers the Violence Against Women Act his most significant piece of legislation during his Senate tenure. He says domestic violence has dropped by almost 50% since it was passed in 1994.

Biden also was a member of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and was the lead senator in writing the law that established the office of Drug Czar, a position that oversees the national drug-control policy.

On the foreign policy front, Biden was particularly outspoken on issues related to the Kosovo conflict of the late '90s, urging U.S. action against Serbian forces to protect Kosovars against an offensive by Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic.

Biden voted for the final U.S. Senate resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq, but became a persistent critic of the Bush administration's policies there. He later proposed a partition plan as a way to maintain a united, peaceful Iraq.

Biden also has a personal stake in the outcome in Iraq. His son, Beau, is Attorney General of Delaware and a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, serving as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General's office. He is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq on October 3, 2008, one day after his father is scheduled to participate in the only vice-presidential debate.

Biden is also prone to verbal gaffes. For example, in June 2006, he offended Indian-Americans when he claimed a great relationship with them thanks to the fact that in Delaware, "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."

Biden pursued the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew after it was revealed that parts of his campaign stump speech had been plagiarized from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without appropriate attribution. In February 1988, Biden nearly died when he was struck down by two brain aneurysms, but returned to the Senate seven months later.

Biden became an adjunct professor at the Wilmington, Del., branch of the Widener University School of Law in 1991.

In 2007, Biden published his memoir, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics. He also launched his second presidential bid with another classic gaffe, this time when asked about the candidacy of Barack Obama.

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. He apologized and Obama accepted, but Biden never gained traction, and withdrew from the race after placing fifth in the Iowa Democratic caucus in January 2008.

Obama, who went on to win the Democratic presidential nomination, not only forgave Biden's "articulate" gaffe, but went on to pick him as his running mate seven months later.