A presidential candidate himself in 1988 and 2008, Biden is best known as the longest-serving senator from his home state of Delaware and for continuing to serve after losing most of his family in a tragic auto accident. He was chairman of both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, where he opposed the 1991 Gulf War, championed the Violence Against Women Act and chaired the contentious confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. As vice president, he is known as a passionate policy contrarian and maker of public gaffes.