Joe Biden's Defining Moments

From 26 years in the Senate to two failed Presidential campaigns, the experiences that forged Obama's Veep nominee

Presidential Run, 1987

Cynthia Johnson / Time Life Pictures / Getty
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Biden ran for President in 1987 but dropped out six months before the first primary after he was found to have lifted parts of a speech on his personal background from British politician Neil Kinnock. The plagiarism charge did less damage than the false impression Biden tried to convey of a scrappy working-class background; he grew up in a middle-class family in suburban Pennsylvania and Delaware.

—Massimo Calabresi

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