Sen. Joe Biden is a congressional veteran who is recognized as a leader in foreign policy and on defense issues.

Elected to the Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, he has served the state of Delaware for more than 30 years.

Biden chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is considered a man who speaks his mind. He has a generally liberal voting record.

Biden was born Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pa., the first of Joe and Jean Biden's four children.

The family moved to Delaware in the summer of 1953.

In 1965, Biden graduated from the University of Delaware. One year later, he married Neilia Hunter, and in 1968, he received his law degree from Syracuse University College of Law.

Biden and his wife welcomed their first child, Beau, in 1969, and their second, Hunter, in 1970.

That same year, he was elected to the New Castle County Council.

Biden and his wife became parents a third time, when they welcomed daughter Naomi in 1971.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 1972.

On Dec. 18, 1972, Biden's wife and three children were in a car accident while Christmas shopping. His wife and his daughter suffered fatal injuries and his two sons were critically injuried. After being urged not to resign, Biden was sworn in to the U.S. Senate at Beau and Hunter's bedside in Wilmington on Jan. 5, 1973.

In 1977, Biden married Jill Jacobs, a school teacher. In 1981, he and his wife welcomed a daughter, Ashley. They live in Wilmington, Del.

Biden underwent successful emergency surgery in 1988 after two aneurysms were diagnosed in his brain.

Biden entered the 1988 Democratic presidential primary but quit after he was caught lifting lines from a speech by a British Labour Party leader, The Associated Press reported.

He announced another run at the presidency in January 2007, but the campaign was unsuccessful, as the contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton took the spotlight.

Information from The Associated Press and www.biden.senate.gov.