Jens Stoltenberg (President McCain)

Jens Stoltenberg (born March 16, 1959) is the Prime Minister of Norway. He took office in October of 2005; he was previously Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001. He has also been the leader of the Norwegian Labour Party since 2002. He has been a Member of Parliament from Oslo since 1993.

Biography
Jens Stoltenberg was born on March 16, 1959 in Oslo, Norway. Stoltenberg grew up in a political family. His father, Thorvald Stoltenberg, is one of the most prominent politicians in Norway and a former Foreign Minister; his mother Karin Stoltenberg was a junior minister. The late Marianne Heiberg, married to former Foreign Minister Johan Jørgen Holst, was his aunt on his mother's side.

He belongs to the Stoltenberg family which emigrated to Norway in the 17th century, from the North German village of Stoltenberg in Schleswig-Holstein (the Duchies were then in a personal union with the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway).

Political career
Stoltenberg was the leader of the Workers' Youth League (Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking, AUF) between 1985 and 1989 and the Oslo chapter of the Labour Party between 1990 and 1992. In 1985 he was elected into the central board of the Labour Party, and was appointed the deputy party chairman in 1992. He was the vice president of the Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) between 1985 and 1989.

Jens Stoltenberg was part-time journalist on the national daily Arbeiderbladet 1979-1981, information secretary at Oslo Labour Party 1981, executive officer at Statistics Norway 1989-1990 and lectured in economics at the University of Oslo 1989-1990.

Member of Parliament
Stoltenberg was elected into the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) for the first time in 1993, after being a deputy member of the Storting 1989-1993 and a regular attendee from 1991. He was Labour’s parliamentary leader at the change of government (February and March 2000 and between 2001 and 2005), member of the Storting’s standing committee on social affairs 1991-1993, leader of the standing committee on oil and energy affairs 1997-2000 and member of the standing committee on foreign affairs 2001-2005.

He was deputy minister (statssekretær) in the Department of the Environment from 1990 to 1991 and Minister of Industry from 1993 to 1996 under Gro Harlem Brundtland’s third government, and Minister of Finance from 1996 to 1997 in Thorbjørn Jagland’s government.

Stoltenberg is also the leader of the Labor Party, an office he took over after Thorbjørn Jagland in November 2002 after having been first deputy since 1992.

First tenure, 2000 - 2001
His first tenure as Prime Minister (2000–2001) was controversial within his own party, being responsible for reforms and modernisation of the welfare state that included part-privatising several key state-owned services and corporations. In the parliamentary election of 10 September 2001, the party suffered one of its worst results ever, winning only 24% of the vote. The disastrous results of 2001 were quickly followed by a bitter leadership battle between Thorbjørn Jagland and Stoltenberg, with Stoltenberg winning the party leadership.

Second term, 2005 - present
The 2005 parliamentary election saw a vast improvement for Labour, and the party gained a majority in parliament together with the other "Red-Green" parties, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. This paved the way for a historic first in Norway, with Labour joining in a coalition government, the Red-Green Coalition. Stoltenberg became Prime Minister for the second time on 17 October 2005. Since the election Stoltenberg’s cabinet has been hit by some scandals, and the Government has been far behind the opposition in most opinion polls. However, Mr. Stoltenberg's personal approval ratings have remained high throughout the term. The next General Election is due in September 2009.

Personal life
Stoltenberg is married to the diplomat Ingrid Schulerud and has two children. He was raised in the Waldorf Education system as formulated by Rudolf Steiner, and educated at the Oslo katedralskole and the University of Oslo.

He likes to spend his summer vacations on the Hvaler Islands in the Oslo fjord. He has two sisters, Camilla who is one year older than him, she is a medical reseacher and administrator, and Nini who is four years younger. She is a recovering heroin addict and the family has been portrayed in Norwegian mass media on their struggles to cope with this problem.