Tom Daschle

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Thomas Andrew Daschle
United States Senator from South Dakota
In office January 6, 1987–January 3, 2005
Preceded by	James Abdnor
Succeeded by	John Thune
22nd United States Senate Majority Leader
In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Bill Frist
20th United States Senate Majority Leader
In office January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Trent Lott
Born	December 9, 1947 (1947-12-09) (age 60) Aberdeen, South Dakota
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Linda Hall Daschle
Religion	Roman Catholic

Thomas Andrew Daschle (born December 9, 1947) is a former U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was defeated on November 2, 2004, by the Republican candidate, John Thune, in his bid for re-election. He is currently a Special Policy Advisor at the law firm Alston & Bird LLP, visiting professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Thomas Daschle is a Richard von Weizsäcker Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany, for Spring 2008.

Contents 1 Family background 2 Career in the House of Representatives and the Senate 3 Conflict with Robert J. Carlson 4 Anthrax case in 2001 5 2004 Senate election 6 2005 and beyond 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Family background

Daschle was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota to Elizabeth B. Meier and Sebastian C. Daschle. His paternal grandparents were ethnic German immigrants from Russia.^[1] Daschle grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family as the eldest of four brothers.^[2] He became the first person in his family to graduate from college when he earned a political science degree from South Dakota State University in 1969. While attending South Dakota State University, Daschle became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega.

After serving three years as an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command, he spent five years as an aide to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk.

Daschle is married to lobbyist and former Federal Aviation Administration official Linda Hall; he has three children from his first marriage: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay. His son, Nathan is currently Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association. His nephew, Michael Daschle, is a 2004 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. His other nephew, John Daschle, is a 2007 ROTC graduate of the University of Colorado. He is currently serving on active duty in the United States Air Force and is stationed at Scott AFB, Illinois.

[edit] Career in the House of Representatives and the Senate

In 1978, Daschle was elected to the United States House of Representatives, winning the race by a margin of 110 votes, following a recount, out of more than 129,000 votes cast. Daschle served four terms in the House of Representatives and quickly became a part of the Democratic leadership.

In 1986, Daschle was elected to the Senate in a close victory over incumbent Republican James Abdnor, becoming the nation's 1,776th senator. In his first year, he was appointed to the powerful Senate Finance Committee, an unusual honor for a freshman. In 1988, then-Senate Democratic Leader George J. Mitchell named Daschle the first-ever co-chair of the Democratic Policy Committee, making him the first South Dakotan ever to hold a Senate leadership position.

To enhance his state's economy, Daschle also became the first U.S. Senator to hire a full-time economic development director. He was also one of the first members of the U.S. Congress to establish a toll-free telephone line that connects South Dakotans to his Washington, DC office.

In U.S. Senate election, 1992 and U.S. Senate election, 1998, South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell as Democratic Leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. In past Congresses, he has served on the Veterans, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics Committees.

During his brief stint as the 20th Senate Majority Leader, he became part of the phenomena in which a new congress takes office before a new presidential administration. From January 3, 2001, to January 20, 2001, Daschle became Senate Majority Leader for the first time. The Senate was evenly divided with 50 members from each major party, but Vice President of the United States Al Gore acted in his constitutional capacity as ex officio President of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. Upon the swearing-in of the George W. Bush Administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney became Vice President and the Democrats returned to being in the minority and Daschle reverted to being Senate Minority Leader.

However, when Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced in May 2001 that he was leaving the Republican caucus to become an independent and would caucus with the Democrats, this returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader.

Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned them to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle reverted to being Minority Leader once again.

[edit] Conflict with Robert J. Carlson

In 2003, Roman Catholic bishop Robert J. Carlson told Daschle that his stance on such issues as abortion were in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching and he told Daschle that he should no longer identify himself as a Catholic. Daschle had previously denounced Bishop Carlson as being "more identified with the radical right than with thoughtful religious leadership."

[edit] Anthrax case in 2001

In October 2001, while he was the Senate Majority Leader, Daschle's office received a letter containing anthrax, becoming a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed, as well as several of Sen. Russell Feingold's staffers.

[edit] 2004 Senate election

In the 2004 Congressional elections, Daschle lost his seat to Republican challenger and former U.S. Representative John Thune in a bitterly contested battle. Thune prevailed by a narrow 51%-49% margin, which was just over 4,500 votes. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune, breaking an unwritten tradition that one party's leader in the Senate would not campaign directly for the other's defeat. Daschle's loss resulted in the first ousting of a majority or minority leader since 1952 when Arizona Senator Ernest McFarland lost his seat to Barry Goldwater. Daschle's Senate term expired on January 4, 2005.

Throughout the campaign, Thune — along with Frist, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney — frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees to the federal judiciary. Thune also used moral values such as issues surrounding same-sex marriage and abortion to convince South Dakota voters that Daschle's positions on such topics were out-of-sync with the state's residents. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the war. In a nationally televised debate on NBC's Meet the Press, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the Iraq war.

Daschle also noticeably relied very heavily on the power of incumbency to win a fourth term. Some also argued that Stephanie Herseth's election to the state's only House seat hurt Daschle, as voters may not have been comfortable sending an all-Democratic delegation to Congress for the first time in many decades. Accusations that Daschle was possibly considering no longer being an official resident of South Dakota was believed to have offended voters there. Others have analyzed that Daschle's lengthy consideration and eventual rejection of a potential run for the presidency in 2004 took a toll on South Dakotans, who felt betrayed and used by Daschle as a result.

When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7 points in January and February. By May, his lead minimized to just 2 points and into the summer polls showed a varying number of trends: either Daschle held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or Thune held a slim 1 to 2 point lead or the race was tied right down the middle. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2 to 5 percent while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49-49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins.

Daschle's defeat by Thune was remarkable for two reasons:

1. Thune was an aide to former United States Senator James Abdnor, the man Daschle defeated in 1986 to gain his seat in the Senate.

2. Daschle spent a great deal of time and energy campaigning for his fellow Democrat Tim Johnson in 2002, who barely defeated Thune by 524 votes. He argued that by re-electing Tim Johnson, South Dakota would be better off, because Johnson would help to keep Daschle Majority Leader. But in the end, while Johnson won, other states voted for enough Republicans that Daschle was no longer majority leader. Furthermore, Thune's whisker-close defeat in 2002 freed him up to run against Daschle in 2004. Had Daschle not put his considerable weight to re-electing Johnson, it seems very likely that Thune would have beaten Johnson, leaving Daschle without a strong challenger for the upcoming election and making his re-election a certainty.

[edit] 2005 and beyond

Daschle has not made intentions clear as to whether or not he will run again for office; however, he has signed on as a Senior Policy Advisor to the law firm Alston & Bird LLP and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

In late September 2005, Daschle caught the attention of the media by reactivating his political action committee, changing its name from DASHPAC to New Leadership for America PAC and procuring a speaking slot at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. He has continued to keep a relatively high profile among Democratic interest groups. These moves were interpreted by the media as an exploration of a potential 2008 Presidential candidacy. Daschle has ruled out any future bid for the United States Senate and on December 2, 2006, announced he would not run for President in 2008.^[3]

On February 13, 2006, Daschle became one of two Democrats (with Rep. Jane Harman of California) to endorse a controversial domestic surveillance program conducted under the authority of President George W. Bush by the National Security Agency (NSA).^[4]

On February 21, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Daschle had thrown his support behind Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for the 2008 Presidential Election, saying that he "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Tom Daschle's New Leadership for America PAC
• Alston & Bird LLP Firm Bio of Sen. Daschle

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Larry Pressler	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's 1st congressional district 1979 – 1983	Succeeded by Elected state-wide at-large
Preceded by District created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's At-large congressional district 1983 – 1987	Succeeded by Tim Johnson
United States Senate
Preceded by James Abdnor	United States Senator (Class 3) from South Dakota 1987 – 2005 Served alongside: Larry Pressler, Tim Johnson	Succeeded by John Thune
Party political offices
Preceded by George J. Mitchell Maine	Senate Democratic Leader January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2005	Succeeded by Harry Reid Nevada

v • d • e United States Senators from South Dakota
Class 2: Pettigrew • Gamble • Sterling • McMaster • Bulow • H. Bushfield • V. Bushfield • Mundt • Abourezk • Pressler • T. Johnson Class 3: Moody • Kyle • Kittredge • Crawford • E. Johnson • Norbeck • Hitchcock • Pyle • Gurney • Case • Bottum • McGovern • Abdnor • Daschle • Thune

v • d • e United States Senate Majority Leaders
Lodge • Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid

v • d • e United States Senate Minority Leaders
Underwood • Robinson • McNary • Austin • McNary • White • Barkley • Wherry • Bridges • Johnson • Knowland • Dirksen • Scott • Baker • Byrd • Dole • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Frist • Daschle • Reid • McConnell

Persondata
NAME	Daschle, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Daschle, Thomas Andrew (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	South Dakota politician
DATE OF BIRTH	December 9, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH	Aberdeen, South Dakota
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH