The Bidens place a high value on family; Joe's two sons were an integral part of their courtship. “We dated together,” Jill told the Iowa Independent. “We got married as a family. We were all there and the boys were on the alter when we got married.”

Beau Biden, now the Delaware Attorney General, told Jay Leno that Joe and Jill "dated for a while, and we had to tell our dad 'When are you gonna ask Jill to marry you? I think he knew right away, but we kind of coaxed him.  And soon thereafter my brother and my dad and I asked my mom to marry us."

In Promises to Keep, Joe's 2007 autobiography, he describes the wedding: "We hadn’t told anybody but our family and closest friends. The ceremony itself was family only—but that counted nearly forty. Beau and Hunter stood with us at the altar. Since all four of us were getting married we [thought we] should include the boys on the honeymoon."

According to Promises to Keep, when Joe asked Jill how she could marry him, knowing how much he had loved his first wife, she replied, "That's the reason I can marry you. Anybody that can love that deeply once can do it again." Joe and Jill have one daughter together, Ashley Biden, born in 1981.

“I would not say that I’m a political activist,” Jill  told the Iowa Independent. “Of course, [Joe and I] care about a lot of the same things, but we don’t always have the same position on issues. I like to say that we compliment one another. I think what I do in my life experiences has a positive impact on Joe and, hopefully, it expands to have a positive influence on other people.”

Although Jill has described herself as apolitical, after Bush won in 2004 she asked Joe to run for president. She told the Iowa Independent, "We talked as a family before Joe even knew about it and we went to Joe two years ago and said, ‘We think you are the only one that can pull together the red states and the blue states and build consensus on issues that are important. We think you should run.’ And, he did."

Before Joe dropped out of the 2008 presidential race Jill told Time magazine that if she were first lady education would be her first priority. She added that "education is not just about reading, writing and arithmetic, it's about teaching our children how to keep themselves healthy. My focus would include teaching about health issues like obesity, the dangers of smoking and educating young girls about breast cancer and the importance of self exams."

Joe and Jill Biden have a strong relationship. Jill told Time that Joe has a romantic side and The New York Times described him as being head-over-heels in love with his wife after 30 years of marriage. When Biden introduced Jill at the Democratic National Convention he described her as "drop dead gorgeous."

No matter who wins the election this November, the Bidens will continue to be an example of how a marriage should work.