Vitter was first elected to the House in a May 1999 special election for Republican Rep. Bob Livingston's seat. As the House was debating impeaching President Clinton, Livingston, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, surprised everyone by confessing to extramarital affairs and resigning, as he called on the president to also do so.

Among those vying for Livingston's seat were former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke and David Treen, 70, a former U.S. congressman and governor. Vitter, then 38, billed himself as young enough to build up the seniority in Congress that Livingston had. He won by 2 percent of the vote.

Vitter, whose 1st Congressional District covers much of the newer part of the New Orleans metropolitan area and part of suburbanizing St. Charles Parish to the west, has one of the most conservative voting records in Congress.

He sits on the Appropriations and Budget committees and was able to get a bill approved directing millions of dollars for Lake Pontchartrain clean up. He successfully relaxed a disclosure law pertaining to the political activity of Section 527 tax-exempt groups, arguing that the law was too burdensome. He also sought easier access to prescription drug coverage for all Medicare-eligible military retirees and aggressive controls of HMOs. Another of Vitter's crusades was missile defense, and he was able to get an amendment approved in support of a national missile defense system.

Vitter has twice won reelection with at least 80 percent of the vote, according to National Journal's Almanac. He considered running for governor in 2003, but decided not to.

Prior to his congressional career, Vitter served seven and a half years in the state House, where he passed a term limits bill, angering some of his colleagues in the legislature. During his years in the state House, he worked as a business attorney and adjunct law professor at Tulane and Loyola universities.

Vitter, who grew up in the New Orleans area, graduated from Harvard and Tulane Law School and was a Rhodes Scholar.

He and his wife Wendy live in Metairie, La., with their four children.

-- Compiled for the Online NewsHour by Larisa Epatko