Aug 23, 2008 9:43 pm US/Pacific
A Closer Look: Sen. Joe Biden
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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Senator Joe Biden greets people following a rally with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on the lawn of the Old State Capital Aug. 23, 2008, in Springfield, Ill.
Frank Polich/Getty Images
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and former presidential candidate is one of the most influential foreign policy voices in Congress.
Joe Biden has represented the state of Delaware in the United States Senate since 1972, when he was elected at the age of twenty-nine. Senator Biden is recognized as a leader in foreign policy, as well as an influential voices on terrorism, drug policy, and crime. Biden has also earned a reputation for working on a bipartisan basis with Republican colleagues.
Despite his generally liberal record, supporters insist Biden will appeal to so-called red state voters who have not looked kindly in the past on Democratic senators from the northeast.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pa. on November 20, 1942. He received an undergraduate degree University of Delaware and a law degree from Syracuse University.
In 1966 he married Neilia Hunter and they had three children, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, Robert Hunter and Naomi. Neilia and Naomi were killed in a 1972 car accident, shortly after Biden was elected to the Senate.
In 1977 he married Jill Tracy Jacobs. They have a daughter, Ashley, together.
The GOP is already hinting at how they will attack the Obama-Biden ticket. Earlier this week, the Republican National Committee sent around a blog post from Politico's Ben Smith showing a Biden ad from 1988.
It opens with an announcer saying this: "The White House isn't the place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power, war and peace, and the economic future of the next generation. A President has got to know the territory, but that's not enough."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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