Tom Vilsack

Thomas James Vilsack, born December 13, 1950, is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002. On November 30, 2006, he formally launched his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election, but ended his bid on February 23, 2007. As of May 1, 2007, Vilsack joined the Des Moines office of Minneapolis-based law firm Dorsey & Whitney and is of counsel. Shortly after ending his 2008 bid for the White House, he endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and was named the national co-chair for Clinton's presidential campaign. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tom Vilsack was orphaned at birth and placed in a Roman Catholic orphanage. He was adopted in 1951 by Bud and Dolly Vilsack, who raised him in the Roman Catholic faith. His adoptive father was a real-estate agent and insurance salesman,... full article at wikipedia