Tom Daschle

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
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's At-large district
In office January 3, 1979-1983 (1st) January 3, 1983-January 3, 1987 (At-large)
Preceded by	Larry Pressler
Succeeded by	Tim Johnson
Born	December 9, 1947 (1947-12-09) (age 61) 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. According to unconfirmed media reports, he has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's nomination to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Obama's Cabinet.^[1]

Family background

Daschle was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Elizabeth B. Meier and Sebastian C. Daschle. His paternal grandparents were ethnic Germans from Russia.^[2] Daschle grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family as the eldest of four brothers.^[3] 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.

Daschle is married to Linda Hall, who was acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Clinton administration. She is one of Washington's top lobbyists. Her lobbying clients over the past year included American Airlines, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Senate lobbying records show.^[4][5] Daschle has three children from his first marriage: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay. His son, Nathan, is Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association.

Career in the House of Representatives

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.

At the 1980 Democratic National Convention Congressman Daschle received 10 (0.30%)^[6] delegate votes for Vice President of the United States. Although he was not a candidate, Daschle (along with others) received votes against incumbent Walter Mondale, who was renominated easily.

Career in the Senate

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 Finance Committee. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell as Democratic Minority 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 Minority Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in in 1998. Throughout his career, he 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 that he was leaving the Republican caucus to become an independent and would caucus with 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.

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.^[7] Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed,^[7] as well as several of Sen. Russ Feingold's staffers and Capitol police officers.^[8]

Views on abortion

In 2003, Roman Catholic bishop Robert Carlson wrote Senator Daschle regarding the senator's views on abortion, in light of proposed legislation Congress was considering that would ban the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion. Carlson reportedly told Senator Daschle that his stance on such issues were in conflict with Roman Catholic teaching, and he told Daschle that he should no longer identify himself as a Catholic.^[9] Daschle had previously described Bishop Carlson as being "more identified with the radical right than with thoughtful religious leadership."^[9] A mixed voting record on pro-choice issues led the organization NARAL to give Daschle a 50 percent vote rating.^[10] In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on partial-birth abortion,^[11][12] Investigators into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which included Senator Daschle's Capitol Hill office, suspect that alleged anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins may have chosen to target Daschle over his views on abortion.^[13]

2004 Senate election

In the 2004 Congressional elections, John 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.

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. 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.^[14]

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. 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.

Post-senate career and activities

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 with the K Street law firm Alston & Bird.^[15][16] Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth, are among the firm's lobbying clients.^[4] The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry.^[5] Daschle was recruited by the former Republican Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole. Daschle has refused to discuss his salary, but Dole, performing a similar role at the firm, has said he makes in the region of $800,000 to $1 million per year. ^[17] Daschle is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. In addition, he is currently serving as National Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08 (an initiative of ONE.org [1]) along with Bill Frist.

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.^[18]

On February 13, 2006, Daschle became one of two Democrats (with Rep. Jane Harman of California) to endorse a warrantless domestic surveillance program conducted under the authority of President George W. Bush by the National Security Agency (NSA).^[19]

On February 21, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Daschle, after ruling out a presidential bid in December 2006, 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."^[20]

With regard to his endorsement of Obama, Daschle has been serving in a capacity as one of the national co-chairs for Obama's presidential campaign. Also, Newsweek's Howard Fineman indicated in an April 2007 article that Daschle has been playing a key role as a central adviser in Senator Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Although Obama lost the Democratic primary in South Dakota on June 3, 2008, Daschle's greater efforts came to fruition that evening as Obama secured his party's nomination. Two days later, sources indicated Daschle "has no interest in the vice presidency or in serving as chief of staff if Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is elected president," but "is interested in universal health care and might relish serving as HHS secretary."^[21] In the general election campaign, Daschle continued to consult Obama, campaign for him across swing states, and advise his campaign organization until Obama was ultimately elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008.

Daschle was first author on a book concerning health care coverage which was published on February 19, 2008, titled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis". One review stated "Daschle's book delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage, outlines the complex economic factors and medical issues affecting coverage and sets forth plans for change."^[22]

Daschle was considered for White House Chief of Staff in Barack Obama's new administration; the post ultimately went to Rahm Emanuel.^[23]

On November 19, 2008, CNN announced that Daschle will be Obama's Health and Human Services secretary, pending Senate confirmation, as well as the White House point person concerning all health policy. He will soon join the Obama Transition Team.^[24]

References

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Alston + Bird - Biography of Sen. Daschle

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

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

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

Democratic Party Leaders in the United States Senate Underwood • Robinson • Barkley • Lucas • McFarland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Mitchell • Daschle • Reid