Tom Harkin

Iowa

Harkin, 66, is a Capitol Hill veteran of three decades who has been a leading voice for farmers and people with disabilities.

He grew up poor, the son of a coal miner and a Slovenian immigrant, and worked his way through college and law school. He was a Hill staffer in 1970, when he went to Vietnam as part of a congressional delegation and took photographs. He publicized them afterward, showing "tiger cages" in a South Vietnamese prison to document torture.

He was elected to the House in 1974 and the Senate a decade later. He has played a strong role in health policy and was, in 1990, a prime force behind the Americans With Disabilities Act. On agricultural issues, including during a stint as chairman from mid-2001 through 2002, he has promoted the use of ethanol and alcohol fuels. Despite his sympathies for labor unions, he voted for the North America Free Trade Agreement and to relax trade relations with China, because farm exports are important to his state.