Nelson made his first foray into politics while still in high school, and his early achievements were anything but modest. He was president of the Florida 4-H, class president of his high school and president of Key Club International, a daunting list of responsibilities that contributed to his boy-wonder reputation. Nelson traveled the world speaking on behalf of the Key Club, once delivering a speech on Radio Free Europe to residents of the Soviet Union. Nelson was given an office and a secretary at his high school to help him keep up with all the extra-curricular activities.

Nelson headed to the University of Florida after high school, financing his education with the profits from a herd of cattle he raised as a 4-H project. He channeled his energy into campus politics, building a network of friends and contacts that helped elect him class president as a freshman. Nelson eventually transferred to Yale University, where he earned a B.A. in political science in 1965. He continued his education with a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1968.

While Nelson was in law school his mother, Nannie Merle, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Nelson moved off-campus to a house in Charlottesville, Va., where he lived with his mother and cared for her while attending classes. Around the time Nelson finished his final law school exams, Nannie Merle died at age 59.

Nelson joined the U.S. Army Reserve in 1965 and served on active duty from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of captain. He returned to Melbourne after leaving the service and went to work as a practicing attorney. A friend introduced Nelson to Grace Cavert, the daughter of a wealthy Jacksonville printing family, and the pair quickly became inseparable. They married in 1972 and have two children.

Start of Political Career

Nelson and his wife hit the campaign trail right after their honeymoon, going door-to-door to curry support for a statehouse run. Nelson won a seat in the Florida Legislature in 1972, where he served until 1978. Nelson's accomplishments in the legislature were minor, though he did introduce one of the nation's first cyber-crime laws.

Nelson was elected to Congress as a representative from the Orlando area in 1978, beating out former U.S. Sen. Edward Gurney (R) with 62 percent of the vote. Nelson's squeaky clean image was a huge asset against Gurney, who had resigned from the Senate after being indicted on bribery, perjury and conspiracy charges (Gurney was later acquitted).

In the House Nelson positioned himself as a stalwart supporter of NASA, one of the biggest employers in his district. He was made chairman of the Science, Space and Technology subcommitteein charge of overseeing the agency, effectively becoming one of the go-to legislators on space issues.

Astronaut

In the mid-1980s public support for manned space missions began to wane; hoping to counter the trend, NASA decided to let civilians travel into orbit with shuttle crews. Nelson jumped at the opportunity and was one of the first people selected for the program. On Jan. 12, 1986, Nelson traveled into space on the shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist, spending six days in orbit around the Earth. "It changed my life," Nelson said of the experience. "In the six days that I flew, I came to see our planet in an entirely different light."Nelson wrote a book about the trip with his pastor, Jamie Buckingham, titled "Mission: An American Congressman's Voyage to Space."

At the time some observers derided Nelson's space trip as a pointless publicity stunt, but that criticism was quickly muted when the shuttle Challenger exploded 10 days after Nelson returned to Earth. Reporters flocked to Nelson's office to hear his views on the tragedy, and he emerged as a leading figure in the efforts to reform NASA's operations.

Florida Governor's Race

After 11 years in the U.S. House, Nelson decided to return to the Sunshine State and run for governor. Many of the state's biggest Democratic donors lined up behind him, and Nelson seemed a lock to win the party's nomination. Then, six months before the primary, Lawton Chiles, the state's beloved former senator, made a surprise announcement: he was coming out of retirement to enter the gubernatorial race. The announcement stunned Nelson, who considered Chiles a personal friend. "The last thing in the world he dreamed was that his opponent would be Lawton Chiles. That was a complete shock," said Charlie Whitehead, a former Florida Democratic Party chairman.

Nelson instantly fell from the top of the polls to the bottom, at times trailing Chiles by as many as 40 points. Nelson's campaign rhetoric against Chiles turned negative; his running mate, Tom Gustafson, suggested Chiles could be suicidal after he revealed he was taking Prozac for depression. Nelson's team also questioned whether Chiles was being forthright about his real estate holdings.

Despite making up some ground, Chiles' popularity was too much for Nelson to overcome, and he was handily beaten in the primary.

Nelson's absence from the political scene didn't last long. In 1994, he ran for Florida treasurer and insurance commissioner (a dual post in Florida) and narrowly won despite the Republican wave that swept national politics that year. Nelson took a decidedly activist approach to the office, squaring off against the insurance industry over rate hikes in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. He also accused insurers of denying rightful payments to Holocaust survivors and overcharging African Americans for burial policies.

U.S. Senate

Nelson decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2000 after then-Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) announced his retirement. His opponent was longtime Congressman Bill McCollum, a Republican who had served as one of the prosecutors in the House impeachment trial of President Clinton. McCollum tried to paint Nelson as an extreme liberal, but Nelson enjoyed a significant advantage in name recognition and was widely considered the more likeable candidate.Nelson won the seat with 51 percent of the vote.

Nelson ran for re-election in 2006 and was challenged by then-Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), a polarizing figure who rose to national prominence as Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 presidential recount fight. Harris ran a disastrous general election campaign with constant staff turnover, and leaders of the GOP were not behind her. Nelson took 60 percent of the vote, beating Harris even in her home county of Sarasota.

Delegates Controversy

In late 2007 Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) sued the Democratic National Committee for stripping Florida of its delegates in the 2008 presidential nomination process. A federal judge rejected the lawsuit, ruling the DNC had a constitutional right to enforce its scheduling rules. In January 2008, Nelson endorsed then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign and began seeking a compromise to seat the 210 Florida delegates that Clinton had won in a primary that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) did not contest.

Some Florida Democrats questioned Nelson's motives during the delegate fight, given he was a rumored vice presidential candidate for Clinton. Nelson denied his actions were politically motivated and said the party risked losing Florida in the general election if the primary results were ignored. The DNC eventually agreed to a compromise that gave Florida vote for each delegate, but that did not change the outcome of the Democratic primary race.

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