Bill Nelson

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Bill Nelson
Senior Senator from Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2001– Serving with Mel Martinez
Preceded by	Connie Mack III
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2013)
Born	September 29, 1942 (age 64) Miami, Florida
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Grace Cavert Nelson
Profession	Fire marshal, Lawyer
Religion	Episcopalian

Clarence William "Bill" Nelson

Astronaut
Nationality	American
Born	September 29, 1942 Miami, Florida
Current occupation	U.S. Senator
Previous occupation	Representative, U.S. House
Rank	Payload specialist
Space time	6d 02h 03m
Selection	1985
Mission(s)	STS-61-C
Mission insignia

For other people named Bill Nelson, see Bill Nelson (disambiguation).

Clarence William "Bill" Nelson (born September 29, 1942) is the senior U.S. Senator from Florida. Nelson is a Democrat. Nelson became the second sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as a Payload Specialist during NASA mission STS-61-C (January 12-18, 1988).

Bill Nelson was born in Miami in 1942 to English-American parents. He attended the University of Florida for three years, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1965 to 1971. During this time, Nelson studied at the University of Virginia, where he received his law degree in 1968.

Nelson married Grace Cavert in 1972; they have two children: Bill Nelson, Jr. and Nan Ellen Nelson.

[edit] Early career

Nelson worked as a fire marshal and later as a lawyer before beginning his political career in the Florida House of Representatives. Nelson served in the state house from 1972 to 1979.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991.

In 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of Congress (and the first from the House) to travel into space. He went through NASA training, along with Senator Jake Garn, of Utah. He was a Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-61-C mission, with six other astronauts, from January 12-18. Ten days after his return, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off.

[edit] 1990-2000

In 1990, Nelson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida. He lost to former U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles, who went on to win the general election. During the primary campaign, Nelson tried to make an issue out of Chiles' health and age, a strategy that backfired on him in a state with a large population of retirees and senior citizens.

From 1995 to 2000, Nelson was the Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida.

[edit] U.S. Senate

[edit] Election

In 2000, Nelson won the election for U.S. Senator from Florida, defeating then-Representative Bill McCollum, the Republican candidate. The election was to replace retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack.

Sen. Nelson talks with Rep. Porter Goss (R-Florida) prior to a confirmation hearing of Goss to be the Director of the CIA before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

[edit] Political actions and positions

Nelson has been a vocal opponent of oil drilling off Florida's coast. He supports allowing the government to negotiate for lower drug prices from pharmaceutical companies in the Medicare prescription drug program. He is generally regarded as a moderate, and was among the few Democrats to vote in favor of CAFTA. He has also voted in favor of tighter bankruptcy restrictions and abolishing the estate tax. Nelson has received a 75% rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League [1]. He has voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act as it had no exception for the life or health of the mother (this act was ruled unconstitutional for this reason among others) [2]. He has also voted against a bill providing for criminal penalties for anyone harming an unborn child during the commission of a crime [3]. . In general, Nelson has high ratings from other left-of-center political action groups [4]

Nelson has also introduced legislation banning paperless electronic voting machines [5].

[edit] 2006 re-election campaign

Sen. Nelson works with government storm trackers during a hurricane-hunter flight into the center of Hurricane Charley in August 2004

Main article: Florida United States Senate election, 2006

Nelson's job approval ratings were 49 percent during the 2006 campaign, three percentage points higher than fellow Florida senator Mel Martinez, a Republican in a nominally red state.

Republican Representative Katherine Harris won the Republican primary, and faced Nelson in the November general election. In an interview with Sean Hannity on March 15, 2006, Harris claimed that Nelson was a member of the ideological far-left and had taken bribes. She did not state from whom, nor did she give any other specifics as to these allegations. Nelson is generally regarded as a moderate in Florida.^[1]

James Dobson promised to launch "a battle from sea to shining sea" against Nelson's reelection if he participated in a filibuster of Bush's "strict constructionist" court nominees.^[2] Dobson has been joined by other Republican activists, such as Randall Terry, because of his opposition to Samuel Alito and his refusal to join what were largely Republican efforts to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. The Schiavo incident prompted Brian Darling, a strategist in Mel Martinez's staff, to write the Schiavo memo that articulated a plan to use the Schiavo controversy as a campaign tool against Nelson in 2006. Darling resigned when it was traced to him, and Martinez apologized publicly to Nelson.^{[citation needed]}

Nelson was reelected as Senator on November 7, 2006 with 60 percent of the vote. His victory is the largest margin by a Democratic candidate in the state in many years. ^[3][4][5]

[edit] Trip to Damascus

On December 13, 2006, Nelson went to Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This came following his appointment to the Senate Intelligence Committee. "He (Assad) stated that we in fact, have an interest, common interest, to stabilize Iraq. I think it is a crack in the door, and it is for discussions to continue," he said in a conference call from Amman, Jordan after meeting Assad in Damascus. The White House said that members of congress should not be going to Syria. "I think it is a real stretch to think that the Syrians don't know where we stand or what we think. We have made it clear and we will continue to make it clear," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bill Nelson

• United States Senator Bill Nelson official Senate site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission - Bill Nelson campaign finance reports and data
• NASA - Bill Nelson official astronaut biography
• New York Times - Bill Nelson News collected news and commentary
• On the Issues - Bill Nelson issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org - Bill Nelson campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart - Senator Bill Nelson (FL) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia - Bill Nelson profile
• Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: Bill Nelson voting record
• Nelson for US Senate official campaign site