Kent Conrad

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Kent Conrad
Senior U.S. Senator, North Dakota
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 1987– Serving with Byron Dorgan
Preceded by	Mark Andrews
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2013)
Born	March 12, 1948 (age 59) Bismarck, North Dakota
Political party	Democratic-NPL
Spouse	Lucy Calautti
Religion	Unitarian Universalist

Gaylord Kent Conrad (generally known as Kent Conrad) (born on March 12, 1948) is a United States senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. He is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

Early years and education

Conrad was born in Bismarck, North Dakota to German-American parents and lived much of his early life in Bismarck. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his grandparents. He attended Roosevelt Elementary and Hughes Junior High, and several years of high school in Tripoli, Libya. He graduated in 1966 from Phillips Exeter Academy, like his opposite on the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Judd Gregg. He went to college at Stanford and received an MBA from George Washington University.

He has one daughter, Jessamyn, from a previous marriage. His wife, Lucy Calautti, is a lobbyist for Major League Baseball.

Initial career

After graduating college, he became an assistant to the North Dakota tax commissioner, Byron Dorgan, who later became his colleague in the Senate. In 1980, Conrad succeeded Dorgan as tax commissioner. Conrad was state tax commissioner until 1986, when he ran for Senate.

Senate career

Elections

Sen. Conrad, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee criticizes President George W. Bush's decision to cut program relevant to middle-class Americans. Conrad is well-known for using boards to display graphs.

In the 1986 election, Conrad defeated the Republican incumbent, Mark Andrews, by only 2,100 votes in what is still considered an upset; Andrews had represented North Dakota at the federal level since 1963 (he had previously served in the House before moving to the Senate in 1981).

During the campaign, Conrad pledged that he would not run for re-election if the Federal budget deficit had not fallen by the end of his term. By 1992 it became obvious that this would not be the case, and although polls showed that the electors would have welcomed him going back on his pledge, Conrad considered his promise binding and did not run for re-election. Dorgan won the Democratic primary election.

Conrad got an unusual opportunity to remain in the Senate when the other North Dakota senator, long-serving Dem-NPLer Quentin Burdick, died on September 8, 1992. Burdick's widow, Jocelyn Birch Burdick, was appointed to that seat temporarily, but a special election was needed to fill the rest of the term. As this was not running for re-election, Conrad ran for and secured the Democratic-NPL nomination. He won the election and was sworn in December 5, 1992, resigning his other seat the same day. (The first seat was then filled by Dorgan, who was appointed by the governor to fill the seat for the brief interim until he would have been sworn in under normal circumstances.)

Despite North Dakota's Republican lean, Conrad was handilly reelected in 1994--a year in which marginal seats everywhere fell to Republicans. He hasn't faced serious opposition since.

Political positions

Sen. Conrad flanked by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chairman of Senate Budget Committee points to a chart while questioning U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan regarding future deficits.

Conrad has been very vocal in his opposition to the spending policies of the Bush Administration. He contends that they have worsened the problems of national debt. Conrad is opposed to most free-trade measures and is a strong supporter of farming subsidies.

Conrad is more moderate than many in his own party on the issues of abortion and gun control. He is one of the few members of the Democratic Party to have voted consistently in favor of banning the procedure commonly referred to as "partial-birth" abortion. He also opposes public funding of abortion. However, Conrad voted in favor of lifting the ban on military base abortions [1]. On January 31, 2006, Conrad was one of only four Democrats to vote in favor of confirming Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

Conrad voted against approving use of military force in Iraq in 1991 and was one of only 23 senators to vote against the war resolution of 2002.

In April 2006, he was selected by Time as one of "America's 10 Best Senators."

2006 re-election campaign

Main article: North Dakota United States Senate election, 2006

In 2006, Republicans heavily wooed popular Governor John Hoeven to face him. Hoeven was considered by many analysts to be the only Republican who could possibly defeat Conrad. However, Hoeven declined, effectively handing Conrad a fourth full term.

The only Republican to file by the deadline was Dwight Grotberg, an Anderson town councilman and farmer from Sanborn in Barnes County.

As of August 2006, Conrad had the highest approval rating among his constituents of any U.S. Senator, at 74% approval to only 21% disapproval, despite his being a Democrat in a historically Republican state.[2]

Trivia

• Conrad is widely known for being very detailed in his analysis of monetary policies and budget issues. He almost always uses charts, graphs, and other visuals at press conferences as well as on the Senate floor.
• Conrad is the only person ever to hold two U.S. Senate seats on the same day.
• He is the only Unitarian in the U.S. Senate.

External links

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