Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., born November 20, 1942, is an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Del. Biden is a member of the Democratic Party and the incumbent senior U.S. senator from Delaware.

Thursday, January 3rd 2008, 4:02 pm

By: News 9


Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., born November 20, 1942, is an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Del.

Biden is a member of the Democratic Party and the incumbent senior U.S. senator from Delaware. He is currently serving his sixth term and Delaware's longest-serving senator. He is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the 110th Congress.

Biden has served in that position in the past, and he has served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. He has officially filed as a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2008 presidential election.

In 1969, Biden began practicing law in Wilmington, Delaware, and was soon elected to the New Castle County, County Council, where he served from 1970 to 1972. The 1972 U.S. Senate election presented Biden with an unusual opportunity. Popular Republican incumbent Senator J. Caleb Boggs was considering retirement, which would likely have left U.S. Representative Pete du Pont and Wilmington Mayor Harry G. Haskell, Jr. in a divisive primary fight. To avoid that, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon was invited to a meeting to convince Boggs to run again with full Republican support. Boggs ran, but Biden eventually won.

Biden took office on January 3, 1973, at age 30, becoming the fifth-youngest U.S. senator in United States history. He has since won additional terms easily, defeating James H. Baxter, Jr. in 1978, John M. Burris in 1984, M. Jane Brady in 1990, and Raymond J. Clatworthy in 1996 and 2002, usually with about 60 percent of the vote. He is now the longest-serving U.S. senator in Delaware history.

He is an advocate for Amtrak, the Dover Air Force Base, and the downstate chicken processing industry.

Biden's major issues are:

  • Iraq: A Way Forward
  • Health Care
  • Iran
  • Building a 21st Century Education System
  • Access to Higher Education
  • A Secure Retirement: A Promise to Keep
  • Homeland Security
  • Energy
  • Climate Change
  • Crime
  • Leadership on Darfur
  • Protecting the Environment
  • Standing with Fire Fighters
  • Fiscal Responsibility
  • A Proven Leader on Foreign Relations
  • Jobs
  • The Experience to Make Medicare Better
  • Empowering Women to Take Charge
  • Ending 21st Century Discrimination
  • Online Nation
  • Fighting for America's Veterans
  • Global Development
  • Immigration
  • Source: Wikipedia.org and joebiden.com

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