FACTBOX: Joe Biden, Democratic vice presidential candidate
(Reuters) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is a long-time U.S. senator from Delaware with considerable experience on judicial and foreign policy issues.
Following are some biographical details for Biden:
Age: 65
Birth date: November 20, 1942
Birthplace: Scranton, Pennsylvania
Education: Bachelor's degree from University of Delaware; law degree from Syracuse University
Wife: Jill Tracy Jacobs
Children: Two sons from first marriage; one daughter from second
Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic
Family: Joe Biden married Neilia Hunter in 1966 while he was in law school. The couple had three children -- a daughter and two sons.
Biden was elected in 1972 to his first term in the U.S. Senate. Six weeks later, his wife and infant daughter were killed in an automobile accident that critically injured his two sons. He nearly resigned his Senate seat, but was persuaded not to by the majority leader. Biden took the oath of office at the bedside of one of his sons.
He was a single parent for five years, making the hour-and-a-half trip back and forth from Washington twice each work day, a practice he continues. He met Jill Tracy Jacobs, a teacher, in 1975 and the two married in 1977. They have a daughter. Biden's sons recovered. One is the Delaware attorney general and an attorney in the Army National Guard who is to be deployed in Iraq this month.
Career: Biden graduated near the bottom of his class from both the University of Delaware and Syracuse University law school. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969 and practiced law for several years.
Elective office: Biden was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and served for two years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. He has served in the Senate since then, being re-elected five times.
Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. He is ranked among the most liberal senators by several groups that rate voting records. He opposed the Supreme Court nominations of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
During the war in Bosnia, Biden was one of the strongest advocates for action to protect Bosnian Muslims, from lifting the arms embargo to NATO air strikes to war crimes prosecutions.
As the Bush administration moved toward war with Iraq, he said the United States probably had no choice but to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But he opposed unilateral action and pressed for a move to war only after exhausting diplomatic options. He opposed President George W. Bush's strategy of boosting troop levels in Iraq in order to reduce violence.
Sources: Reuters, Almanac of American Politics
(Editing by Stacey Joyce)
