Tom Daschle

American politician, a Democrat whose position changed with the resignation of Jim Jeffords to that of the second most powerful man in Washington, DC., the new Senate Majority leader. Senate control shifted from Republicans to Democrats in the first week of June 2001, a subtle shift in power. The son of an auto-parts store owner and his wife, Daschle earned his B.A. degree in 1969 from South Dakota State University. He spent three years working in Intelligence in the USAF, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. After working briefly as a financial investment rep, he moved to Washington DC in 1973 to serve as a legislative aide for Dem. Senator James Abourezk. Daschle launched his own campaign for U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, where he spent eight years. He is a moderate who leans slightly to the left of his conservative constituency. In November 1986 he narrowly won his senate seat but easily won the election six years later. He was described as having an "engaging, almost deferential personality" that belied his ambitions. Throughout his career, Daschle has cultivated a reputation for being cautious and careful not to offend colleagues or constituents, though an intense, hard worker. On 12/02/1994, he won the leadership of the Democratic Party by a vote of 24 to 23. His former wife, Laurie Klinkel is a lawyer in a high-powered Washington law firm: they had three kids, Kelly, Nathan and Lindsay and divorced in 1983. In 1984 he married Linda Hall, deputy administrator of the F.A.A. He had his private pilot's license and keeps fit by jogging. After President Bush spoke for the United States in pulling out of the Kyoto accord on global warning in July 2001, Senator Daschle criticized the action as isolationism, feeling that such as decision as that and Bush's deployment of a missile defense system "are very divisive. He lost his bid for re-election to the Senate in November 2006. On December 11, 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama officially named him as his choice for the cabinet post of Secretary of Health and Human Services. Earlier in the year (February 2008) his book on health care was published, entitled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." However, on February 3, 2009 amidst admission over unpaid taxes, he withdrew his name from consideration for the position. Link to Wikipedia biography