Joe Biden

Guide Note: Democrat Joe Biden is the senior Senator from Delaware and the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, but dropped out of the race (along with Christopher Dodd) after a poor showing in the Iowa Caucus.

Fast Facts:

1. Born November 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania
2. Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee
3. 6th term as Senator, Delaware
4. Religion: Roman Catholic
5. Longest-serving Senator in Delaware history
6. 1998: Missed six months in the Senate after suffering two brain aneurysms
7. Teaches Constitutional Law at Widener University School of Law

Biden ran for the Senate after practicing law for a few years in Wilmington, Delaware, and took office on January 3, 1973. He was the fifth-youngest U.S. Senator in United States history, at age 30. From 1987 until 1995, Biden chaired the Judiciary Committee, presiding over the controversial Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Robert Bork (who was not confirmed) and Justice Clarence Thomas.

In his time on the Foreign Relations Committee, he was a strong advocate of Bill Clinton's intervention in the Balkins, calling Slobodan Milosevic a "war criminal," and backedthe Bush Administration's call for the invasion of Iraq.

Biden has entered three different presidential races, in 1984, 1988 and 2008. Biden dropped out in 1988 after aides to eventual Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis released a tape to the press of Biden plagiarizing a stump speech.

In 2008, after making a string of gaffes (including referring to Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy") and performing poorly in the 2008 Iowa Caucus, Biden again dropped out of the race. He has been mentioned as a possible choice for Vice President or Secretary of State for the eventual Democratic nominee.