Warren Buffett has become a household name in recent months as President Barack Obama and other Democrats have invoked the billionaire while insisting on the “fairness” of raising taxes for the rich. The ”Buffet rule,” which is set for a procedural Senate vote Monday, calls for taxing millionaires and up at a higher 30 percent federal rate. But POLITICO has found a few other fun facts about Buffett besides how much less he pays in taxes than his secretary.

1. Celebrated his 10th birthday with a trip to the New York Stock Exchange. By that time, Buffett had already been a salesman for about four years, pitching packs of chewing gum, bottles of Coca-Cola, used golf balls, and newspapers.

2. Announced when he was 11 years old that he planned to be a millionaire by age 35.

3. Is bridge partners with Microsoft chief Bill Gates, a board member of Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway.

4. His father was a House Republican of four non-consecutive terms in the 1940s and early 1950s and was described by Washington Examiner columnist as “a John Bircher who fought FDR and warned that the expansion of government was eroding individual liberty.”

5. Favorite hometown restaurant: Piccolo Pete’s in Omaha, Neb. (His dining companions at the rib joint have included General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.)

6. Flagged a majority of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway — valued at $31 billion on the day of the announcement — to be irrevocably earmarked for charity in 2006.

7. Sun Newspapers of Omaha won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for local reporting based in part on a tip Buffett provided. The Pulitzer was for “uncovering the large financial resources of Boys Town, Nebraska, leading to reforms in this charitable organization’s solicitation and use of funds contributed by the public.”

8. Named as an economic advisor to then-gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger less than two months before California’s recall election to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

9. Eventually graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, after attending the University of Pennsylvania for two years of his undergraduate education. Buffett later received a master’s degree from Columbia University under the tutelage of investing master Benjamin Graham.

10. Challenged fellow billionaires on the Fortune 400 in 2007 to calculate and admit that they paid taxes at a rate lower than the average rate of their secretaries. A few weeks later, however, he said that “only three close friends” among the 400 had done the calculation but they didn’t want to be named.