But he can be mercurial, and was a fierce foe of President Bush's 2008 Wall Street bailout package. In the start of 2010, the senator placed a sweeping hold on as many as 70 of Obama's executive branch nominees because of obstacles towards enacting two Alabama-based projects.

Financial Regulation Reform

As the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Shelby and Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) had been trying to broker a compromise on a financial regulatory overhaul designed to prevent economic meltdowns like the disastrous one of the banking system in 2008 and 2009. Such legislation was a key plank of President Obama's agenda.

But in early 2010, talks stalled over consumer protection language, and Dodd said he would move ahead with his own bill.

The Economy

Shelby was a big thorn in the Bush administration's side when it came to the $700 billion financial bailout, which Congress approved in fall 2008. He also opposed Obama's $800 billion stimulus package, saying that Americans would "pay dearly" because of it.

As the former chairman and now ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Shelby's support for the original bailout package was crucial. But Bush didn't get it; instead, Shelby became a leader of rank-and-file conservatives who derided the package as anathema to free-market principles.

"I think we're going down the road of France now," Mr. Shelby told one television interviewer Tuesday, before quickly adding, "in all due respect for my French friends."

In an October 2008 statement, Shelby cataloged the series of failures that led to the 2008 financial crisis. He refuted the idea that it was caused by the free-market, but instead said it was the result of bad policy that allowed too much risk-based lending.

"Mr. President, we did not get to where we are today by accident, it was a path we chose," Shelby said. "My warnings about the risk of basing credit decisions on well-intended social mandates rather than sound, fact-based underwriting were dismissed."

Shelby's criticism of the handling of troubled companies continued as Obama entered office. In May 2009, General Motors was on the brink of failure. The Treasury had loaned over $19 billion to keep the car company afloat, and still GM had to enter bankruptcy. When GM announced its restructuring plan, the company said it would get $30 billion in more financing from the Treasury, under bankruptcy protection, giving the government a 72.5 percent stake in GM. Shelby didn't agree with the move. "We should have let the market forces work it out," said Shelby.

"That's the way we've always done it ... What we've done ... it's the road toward socialism, government intervention in the market in a big way. What's the end game here and can the American people afford it. I think the answer is obviously not."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

During his time at the helm of the Senate Banking Committee, the panel failed to pass legislation to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and approved changes to make bond-ratings agencies more transparent. But recently, Shelby assailed Congressional Democrats for impeding the passage of more sweeping reforms because, in his view, of their close relationship to Fannie and Freddie lobbyists.

In 2001, he made an important decision to oppose the financial modernization effort championed by such heavyweights as then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. Shelby later said that he "did not think it provided a sufficient regulatory structure to oversee the financial system it created. I was also concerned that it lacked some basic consumer privacy protections."

"Many are now claiming that that deregulatory effort led us directly to where we are today," he said.

But Shelby's motives have sometimes been questioned. As a title insurance company executive and real-estate developer in Alabama, he accepted a $5 million loan in 2005, while on the Banking Committee, from Freddie Mac in a move that helped to enrich him. Nonetheless, he signed off on an April 2008 deal with Democrats to provide some protections to homeowners facing foreclosure.

Intelligence

In 1997, Shelby became chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee. Shelby took the lead in questioning Clinton's nominee to be CIA director, Anthony Lake, about his foreign policy credentials, personal stock investments and management ability. He twice delayed the former national security adviser's confirmation hearings, prompting Lake to withdraw his name from consideration.

Lake's replacement was George J. Tenet, who Shelby called "a man of integrity and professionalism" at the time. His praise for Tenet would not last long. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Shelby blamed Tenet for intelligence breakdowns and accused CIA and FBI officials of ignoring legislative directives. When Tenet resigned in 2004, Shelby said his departure was long overdue.

Shelby generally supported the Bush administration's war on terrorism and pushed for the creation of a Director of National Intelligence position and the independent 9/11 commission.

The one major hiccup in his career as Intelligence Committee chairman came in June 2002, when CNN reported details of messages intercepted by the National Security Agency on the eve of the Sept. 11 attacks before a closed committee hearing. The messages, which were not translated until Sept. 12, said: "The match is about to begin" and "Tomorrow is zero hour."

An FBI investigation into the media leaks found that Fox News's Carl Cameron had said Shelby told him about the intercepts, The Washington Post reported (Cameron himself denied divulging who told him the information). In November 2005, the Senate Ethics Committee announced it had dropped its investigation of Shelby.

Health-Care Reform

Shelby opposes the any form of a government-run health-care plan.

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