- published: 12 Jan 2012
- views: 234
- author: Tammy Baldwin
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Alabama
Alabama (
i/ˌæləˈbæmə/) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 23rd-most populous of the 50 United States. Alabama ranks second in the area of its inland waterways.
From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.
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Alaska
Alaska (i/əˈlæskə/) is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Alaska is the 4th least populous and the least densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately half of Alaska's 722,718 residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area.
Alaska was purchased from Russia on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($120 million in today's[when?] dollars) at approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.
The name "Alaska" (Аляска) was already introduced in the Russian colonial period, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or, more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed". It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.
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California
California (pronouncedi/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Connecticut
Connecticut (i/kəˈnɛtɨkət/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the 3rd least extensive, the 29th most populous, and 4th most densely populated of the 50 United States. Called the Constitution State, Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
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Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (i/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] (
listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.
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Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (i/ˈdʒɔrdʒⁱə/) is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 21, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 24th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South.Atlanta is the state's capital and its most populous city.
Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the Appalachian Mountains system. The central piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state. The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald, 4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.
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Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (i/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.
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Iowa
Iowa (i/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often known as the "Food Capital of the World".
In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states to live in.
Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east; the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west; the northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. The southern border is the Des Moines River and a not-quite-straight line along approximately 40 degrees 35 minutes north, as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Missouri v. Iowa after a standoff between Missouri and Iowa known as the Honey War.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: 
جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Kansas
Kansas (i/ˈkænzəs/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."
For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.
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Kohl Center
The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's and women's basketball and ice hockey teams. Seating capacity is variable, as the center can be rearranged to accommodate a basketball court, a hockey rink, or a concert. The maximum capacity is 17,230 in its basketball configuration, and 15,325 for ice hockey. The center has three levels, with the floor holding about 7,500 people, and the two upper balconies about 4,500 each. It is the third largest indoor venue in Wisconsin and the largest outside Milwaukee. The arena is located on the southeast corner of the UW–Madison campus, at the intersection of West Dayton and North Frances Streets.
The sporting arena is named after United States Senator Herb Kohl, who donated $25 million of his Kohl's grocery and department store fortune to the building project. It is the largest single donation in University of Wisconsin System history. Former Wisconsin Badgers basketball player Albert Nicholas and his wife donated $10 million toward the project, with the adjoining practice pavilion named the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion and Plaza. Jack F. Kellner and his sons donated an additional $2.5 million to the project. Wisconsin-based Hammes Company developed the arena for UW–Madison in 1993. The Boldt Company was the project's general contractor.
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Leland Yee
Leland Yee (Chinese: 余胤良; pinyin: Yú Yìnliáng, born November 20, 1948) is a California State Senator in District 8 which represents the western half of San Francisco and most of San Mateo County. Prior to becoming state senator, Yee was a California State Assemblyman, Supervisor of San Francisco's Sunset District, and was a member and President of the San Francisco School Board. In 2004 Yee became the first Asian American to be appointed Speaker pro Tempore, making him the second highest ranking Democrat of the California State Assembly.
Leland Yee immigrated to San Francisco from Taishan,Guangdong, China when he was three years old and later became a naturalized United States citizen. His father served in the U.S. Army and the Merchant Marines. Yee attended San Francisco's Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School and earned a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, a master's from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the University of Hawaii.
After obtaining his PhD in Child Psychology, Yee worked as a therapist in the Mental Health Department of San Francisco, the Oakland School District and with Asian American for Community Involvement, a non-profit that serves low-income people.
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Louisiana
Louisiana (i/luːˌiːziˈænə/ or i/ˌluːziˈænə/; French: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan] ( listen); Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish.
Much of the state was formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species including many species of orchids and carnivorus plants.
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Maine
Maine (i/ˈmeɪn/) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost portion of New England. It is known for its scenery—its jagged, mostly rocky coastline, its low, rolling mountains, its heavily forested interior and picturesque waterways—as well as for its seafood cuisine, especially lobsters and clams.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples were the only inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine. At the time of European encounter, several Algonquian-speaking peoples inhabited the area. The first European settlement in Maine was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations, and conflict with the local peoples caused many to fail over the years. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements survived. Patriot and British forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820, when it voted to secede from Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Maine is the 39th most extensive and the 41st most populous of the 50 United States.
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts (i/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.
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Michigan
Michigan (i/ˈmɪʃɨɡən/) is a state located in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan is the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and the largest city is Detroit. Michigan was admitted into the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.
Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. Michigan is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating. The state has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles (9.7 km) from a natural water source or more than 85 miles (137 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.
Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination. There is also a variety of natural resources to be found there, including a sizable amount of iron ore.
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Milwaukee
Milwaukee /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/ is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States, and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the City of Milwaukee has a population of 594,833. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,751,316 as of 2010. Milwaukee is also the regional center of the seven county Greater Milwaukee Area, with an estimated population of 2,014,032 as of 2008.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In 1818, the French-Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/ is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States, and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the City of Milwaukee has a population of 594,833. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,751,316 as of 2010. Milwaukee is also the regional center of the seven county Greater Milwaukee Area, with an estimated population of 2,014,032 as of 2008.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In 1818, the French-Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.
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Mississippi
Mississippi (i/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.
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Montana
Montana (i/mɒnˈtænə/) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges that are part of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña (mountain). Montana has several nicknames, none official, including: "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently, "The Last Best Place". Montana is the 4th-most extensive, but the 7th-least populous and the 3rd-least densely populated of the 50 United States. The economy is primarily based on services, with ranching, wheat farming, oil and coal mining in the east, and lumber, tourism, and hard rock mining in the west. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.
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New Mexico
New Mexico (i/nuː ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/) is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is the 5th most extensive, the 36th most populous, and the 6th least densely populated of the 50 United States.
Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, New Mexico has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Latin America. It also has the second-highest percentage of Native Americans, after Alaska, and the fourth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, and Arizona. The tribes in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic and Native American influences. The flag of New Mexico is represented by the red and gold colors, which represent Spain, as well as the Zia symbol, an ancient Native American symbol for the sun.
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New York
New York (/njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally IPA: [nɪu ˈjɔək] or [nuː ˈjɔɹk] (
listen)) is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. New York is the 27th most extensive, the 3rd most populous, and the 7th most densely populated of the 50 United States. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west and north, and Quebec to the north. The state of New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.
New York City, with a population of over 8.1 million, is the most populous city in the United States. Alone, it makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state. It is known for its status as a center for finance and culture and for its status as the largest gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York City is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both the state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.
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North Carolina
North Carolina (i/ˌnɔrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States.
North Carolina is comprised of 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.
North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Eastern US. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
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North Dakota
North Dakota (i/ˌnɔrθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th most extensive, but the 3rd least populous and the 4th least densely populated of the 50 United States. North Dakota was created from the northern portion of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with South Dakota.
The state capital is Bismarck and the largest city is Fargo. The primary public universities are located in Grand Forks and Fargo. The U.S. Air Force operates air bases at Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB.
For more than a decade, the state has had a strong economy, with unemployment lower than the national average, job and population growth, and low housing vacancies. Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil shale fields in the western part of the state, but it has also had growth in the technology and service sectors. Flooding in June 2011 has caused extensive damage to Minot and threatened Bismarck, the capital city.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma (i/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/) (Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa , Cayuga: Gahnawiyoˀgeh ) is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people", and it is known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State. Formed by the combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans or, informally "Okies", and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
A major producer of natural gas, oil, and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans living in their metropolitan statistical areas.
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South Dakota
South Dakota (i/ˌsaʊθ dəˈkoʊtə/) is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. South Dakota is the 17th most extensive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Once the southern portion of the Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of nearly 160,000, is South Dakota's largest city.
South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. The state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as "East River" and "West River". Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state's population, and fertile soil in this area is used to grow a variety of crops. West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending.
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Tennessee
Tennessee (i/tɛnɨˈsiː/) (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ) is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th most extensive and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144.Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902.
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.
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Texas
Texas (i/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.
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Utah
Utah (/ˈjuːtɔː/ ori/ˈjuːtɑː/) (Arapaho: Wo'tééneihí' ) is a state in the Western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-most extensive, the 34th-most populous, and the 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,817,222 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S. The name "Utah" is derived from the name of the Ute tribe and means "people of the mountains" in the Ute language. Utah is bordered by Arizona on the south, Colorado on the east, Wyoming on the northeast, Idaho on the north and Nevada on the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico.
Utah is the most religiously homogeneous state in the Union. It is home to the Salt Lake Temple, and approximately 60% of Utahns are reported to be members of LDS Church which greatly influences Utah culture and daily life.
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Vermont
Vermonti/vɜrˈmɒnt/ is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Vermont is the 6th least extensive and the 2nd least populous of the 50 United States. It is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermont's western border, which it shares with the state of New York. The Green Mountains are within the state. Vermont is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.
Originally inhabited by two major Native American tribes (the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and the Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France during its early colonial period. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War). For many years, the nearby colonies, especially New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area (then called the New Hampshire Grants). Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for fourteen years. Vermont is one of seventeen U.S. states (along with Texas, Hawaii, the brief California Republic, and each of the original Thirteen Colonies) to have had a sovereign government in the past. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the 14th state, the first outside the original 13 Colonies. It abolished slavery while still independent, and upon joining the Union became the first state to have done so.
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Washington (state)
Washington (i/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States located north of Oregon, west of Idaho and south of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889.
Washington is the 18th most extensive and the 13th most populous of the 50 United States. Approximately 60 percent of Washington's residents live in the Seattle metropolitan area, the center of transportation, business, and industry along the Puget Sound region of the Salish Sea, an inlet of the Pacific consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords, and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep rainforests in the west, mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast and far southeast, and a semi-arid eastern basin given over to intensive agriculture. Washington is the second most populous state on the west coast and in the western United States after California.
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West Virginia
West Virginia (i/ˌwɛst vərˈdʒɪnjə/) is a state in the Appalachian region of the Eastern United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east. West Virginia is the 41st most extensive and the 37th most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and largest city is Charleston.
West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions and broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. The new state was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state, and was one of two states formed during the American Civil War (the other one being Nevada, which separated from Utah Territory).
The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the South. The northern panhandle extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio, with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than 70 miles (110 km) from North Carolina. Huntington in the southwest is close to the states of Ohio and Kentucky, while Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry in the Eastern Panhandle region are considered to be a part of the Washington metropolitan area, in between the states of Maryland and Virginia. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in several geographical regions, including the Mid-Atlantic, the Upland South, and the Southeastern United States. Notably, it is the only state that is entirely within the area served by the Appalachian Regional Commission; the area is commonly defined as "Appalachia".
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin (i/wɨsˈkɒnsɨn/) is a US state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd most extensive and the 20th most populous of the 50 United States. Wisconsin's capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee. The state is divided into 72 counties.
The word Wisconsin originates from the name given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking American Indian groups living in the region at the time of European contact. French explorer Jacques Marquette was the first European to reach the Wisconsin River and record its name, arriving in 1673 and calling the river Meskousing in his journal. This spelling was later corrupted to Ouisconsin by other French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th century. The current spelling was made official by the legislature of Wisconsin Territory in 1845.
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Wyoming
Wyoming (i/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/) is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the 2nd least densely populated of the 50 States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city of Wyoming with a population of nearly 60,000 people within its city proper.
As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the ninth largest state in the United States in total area, containing 97,818 square miles (253,350 km2) and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is 276 miles (444 km); and from the east to the west border is 365 miles (587 km) at its south end and 342 miles (550 km) at the north end.
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Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.
Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live from its conception in 1975 before moving to writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five books and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio network.
In 2008, Franken narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes, after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.
Franken was born in New York City. His mother, Phoebe G. (née Kunst), was a homemaker and real estate agent, and his father, Joseph P. Franken, was a printing salesman. The family later moved to St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany, and his mother's family was from Russia. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist; MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. cum laude in 1973 in political science.
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Alex English
Alexander English (born January 5, 1954 in Columbia, South Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who played at the forward position. He is currently an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. He played at the University of South Carolina and most notably with the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets.
He averaged 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his NBA career and was the NBA's most prolific scorer during the 1980s. He was named to eight NBA All-Star teams, his #2 jersey was retired by the Nuggets, and he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.
English spent the majority of his career with the Nuggets, but also played briefly with the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks. He was drafted in 1976 by the Bucks, and was part of a rookie class that includes fellow Hall of Famers Robert Parish, Adrian Dantley and Dennis Johnson.
Most of his time in Milwaukee was spent as a back-up on a rebuilding team that lost Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, it was not until he was sent to Indiana in 1978 that he began his reputation as a scorer, averaging 16 points there on another subpar team before being traded to Denver.
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Alexander Wiley
Alexander Wiley (May 26, 1884 – May 26, 1967) was a member of the Republican Party who served four terms in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1963. When he left the Senate, he was its most senior Republican member.
Wiley was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate education at Augsburg College in Minnesota and the University of Michigan. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1907 and was also admitted to the bar the same year. He served as the Chippewa County district attorney from 1909 to 1915.
Wiley was the Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1936 but his bid failed. Philip La Follette and the new Wisconsin Progressive Party, which split from the Republicans in 1934, won the election. In 1938 Wiley was elected to the U.S. Senate by defeating incumbent F. Ryan Duffy. In 1944, he was challenged by Marine Captain Joseph McCarthy in the Republican Party primary. He defeated McCarthy and went on to win the general election. Wiley was re-elected two more times in 1950 and 1956. In 1956, he was challenged by Congressman Glenn Robert Davis in the Republican primary, but once again prevailed. In 1962, Wiley lost his bid for a fifth term to Governor Gaylord Nelson.
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Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar (
/ˈkloʊbəʃɑr/, born May 25, 1960) is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party. She is the first elected female senator from Minnesota and is one of seventeen female senators serving in the 112th United States Congress.
Klobuchar was county attorney of Hennepin County, the most populous county in Minnesota. She was a legal adviser to former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale and partner in two prominent law firms. She has been named by the New York Times as one of the seventeen women most likely to become the first female President of the United States and by MSNBC as a possible nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Klobuchar served as Minnesota's only senator between January 3 and July 7, 2009, due to the contested results of Minnesota's senatorial election held the previous year.
Born in Plymouth, Minnesota, Klobuchar is the daughter of Rose Katherine (née Heuberger), who retired at age 70 from teaching second grade, and Jim Klobuchar, an author and retired sportswriter and columnist for the Star Tribune. Jim Klobuchar's grandparents were Slovene immigrants to the U.S. and his father was a miner on the Iron Range; Amy Klobuchar's maternal grandparents were from Switzerland. Her husband, John Bessler, is an attorney in private practice and a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. A native of Mankato, Bessler attended Loyola High School, and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
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Angus Cameron
Angus Cameron (July 4, 1826 – March 30, 1897) was a Republican and a member of the United States Senate from Wisconsin from 1875 to 1881, when he did not seek reelection, and again from 1881 to 1885, when he was elected to succeed Matthew H. Carpenter, who died in office; he did not seek reelection in 1885. He was born in Caledonia, New York, and went to public schools and to Genesse-Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New York, which is now Syracuse University. He graduated from the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York, and went into banking and law in Buffalo, New York.
In 1857, Angus Cameron moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Angus Cameron served in the Wisconsin State Senate 1863–1864 and 1871–1872, and in the Wisconsin State Assembly where he served as its speaker. He also served as regent on the University of Wisconsin–Madison Board of Regents. Angus Cameron was active in civic affairs and was involved in law and banking, and helped founded Christ Church of La Crosse in La Crosse. Cameron Park, in downtown La Crosse, was named after him. He died in La Crosse and was buried there.
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Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer (born November 11, 1940) is the junior United States Senator from California (since 1993). A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1983–1993).
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Boxer graduated from Brooklyn College. She worked as a stockbroker for several years before moving to California with her husband. During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for the Pacific Sun and as an aide to U.S. Representative John L. Burton. She served on the Marin County Board of Supervisors for six years and become the board's first female president. With the slogan "Barbara Boxer Gives a Damn", she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1982, representing California District 6. She sat on the House Armed Services Committee, and was involved in government oversight, passing several procurement reforms.
Boxer won the 1992 election for the U.S. Senate. She holds the record for the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, having received 6.96 million votes in her 2004 re-election. Boxer is the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee and the chair of the Select Committee on Ethics, making her the only senator to preside over two committees simultaneously. She is also the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip.
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Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Ann Mikulski (born July 20, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Mikulski, a former United States Representative, is the longest-serving female senator and the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress, having served since 1977.
Raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mikulski attended Mount Saint Agnes College and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Originally a social worker and community organizer, she was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1971 after delivering a highly publicized address on the "ethnic movement" in America. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, and in 1986 she became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Maryland.
Mikulski is chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging and Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, and is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Mikulski is the longest-serving present Senator who has never been the chairperson of a full standing committee of the U.S. Senate. She is also the longest-serving/highest-ranking Democrat who is not a present chairperson of a full standing committee.
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Ben Cardin
Benjamin Louis "Ben" Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the Senate, Cardin was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1987 to 2007. National Journal rates him as the third most liberal Democrat in the Senate.
Cardin was elected to succeed Paul Sarbanes in the 2006 U.S. Senate election, defeating Republican challenger Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele by a margin of 54%–44%.
Cardin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dora (née Green) and Meyer M. Cardin (1907–2005). The family name was originally Kardonsky before it was changed to Cardin by Cardin's paternal grandparents, Russian Jewish immigrants. His grandfather operated a neighborhood grocery store that later turned into a wholesale food distribution company. His father, Meyer Cardin, served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1935 to 1937, and later sat on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City from 1961 to 1977.
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Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is the senior United States Senator from Nebraska, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Nelson entered politics in 1990, when he was elected the 37th Governor of Nebraska. He was re-elected in 1994 with 74% of the vote. Nelson ran for an open seat in the U.S. Senate in 1996, losing to Republican Chuck Hagel, and left the Governor's office in January 1999 due to term limits, after serving two full terms. Nelson was elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2000 election after incumbent Bob Kerrey retired.
On December 27, 2011, Nelson announced that he would not seek a third Senate term in 2012.
Nelson was born in McCook, in southwestern Nebraska. He is the only child of Birdella Ruby (née Henderson) and Benjamin Earl Nelson. He earned a B.A. in 1963, a M.A. in 1965, and a J.D. in 1970 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Nelson made his name and money in the insurance industry. After graduating from law school, Nelson landed a job as assistant general counsel for Central National Insurance Group of Omaha. In 1975, he became state insurance director before going back to work for Central National Insurance as an executive vice president and eventually president. He won his first elected office in 1990 when he became governor of Nebraska.
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Bernie Sanders
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives. Sanders also served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist, and has praised European social democracy (though he has also criticized its contemporary "Third Way" departure). He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist. Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments, but because he does not belong to a formal political party, he appears as an independent on the ballot. He was also the only independent member of the House during much of his service there.
Sanders, the son of Jewish Polish immigrants to the United States, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn and later attended the University of Chicago, graduating with an B.A. in political science in 1964. After graduating from college, Sanders spent time on an Israeli kibbutz, an experience which shaped his political views. In 1964, Sanders moved to Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter, filmmaker, writer and researcher, among other jobs.
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Bill Nelson
Clarence William "Bill" Nelson (born September 29, 1942) is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a former United States Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida. In 1986, he became the second sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space.
In 1972, Nelson was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 1974 and 1976. Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991. In January 1986, he flew as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia. After a failed gubernatorial race in 1990, he successfully ran for the office of Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida in 1994 and served for six years. In 2000, Nelson ran for U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack. In the Senate he is generally considered a social moderate and economic liberal. He was re-elected in 2006 with 60 percent of the vote and is seeking re-election in 2012.
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Bob Casey, Jr.
Robert Patrick "Bob" Casey, Jr. (born April 13, 1960) is an American attorney and politician. He is currently senior United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served as Pennsylvania Treasurer and Pennsylvania Auditor General.
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Casey is the son of Bob Casey, Sr., a former Governor of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Scranton Preparatory School in 1978, he attended the College of the Holy Cross. He received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America.
Casey practiced law in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before beginning his political career as Pennsylvania's Auditor General, a post to which he was elected to in 1996 and re-elected in 2000.
In the 2002 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, Casey attempted to follow his father's footsteps in a run for Governor of Pennsylvania. He was defeated, however, in the Democratic primary by eventual general election victor Ed Rendell. After being term-limited out of his position as Auditor General, Casey was elected State Treasurer in the 2004 election.
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Bob Corker
Robert Phillips "Bob" Corker, Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Tennessee. Before his election to the Senate in 2006, he served as mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee from 2001 to 2005. Corker was a businessman prior to holding public office.
Corker was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the son of Jean J. (née Hutto) and Robert Phillips "Phil" Corker. He moved to Tennessee at the age of 11. He graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1970. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1974. Corker is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. He and his wife Elizabeth, whom he married on May 18, 1987, have two daughters. The family's permanent residence is at the Anne Haven mansion built by Coca-Cola Bottling Company heirs Anne Lupton and Frank Harrison.
After working four years as a construction superintendent, he started his own construction company, Bencor, which he sold in 1990. In 1999, he purchased the two largest real estate companies in Chattanooga, Osborne Building Corporation and the Stone Fort Land Company, making him the largest private land owner in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He sold most of these holdings in 2006 to Henry Luken. His business successes have made Corker a multimillionaire.
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Bob Kasten
Robert Walter "Bob" Kasten, Jr. (born June 19, 1942), is a Republican politician from the state of Wisconsin who served as a U.S. Representative from 1975 to 1979 and as a U.S. Senator from 1981 to 1993.
Kasten was born in Milwaukee. He graduated in 1960 from The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1964 from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and received his M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1966. He served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972.
Kasten was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1972. In 1974, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican. He was reelected in 1976. He ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1978, but lost the Republican nomination to Lee S. Dreyfus. Kasten ran for the United States Senate in 1980 and defeated liberal Democrat and environmentalist incumbent Senator Gaylord Nelson. Kasten's victory was propelled in part by the popularity of Ronald Reagan at the top of the Republican ticket. In the Senate, Kasten was an outspoken conservative. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the Senate since Alexander Wiley left office in 1963.
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Bob Menendez
Robert "Bob" Menendez (born January 1, 1954) is the junior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. In January 2006, he was appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jon Corzine, who resigned upon being elected Governor of New Jersey. Menendez was elected to his own full six-year term in the 2006 U.S. Senate election.
Prior to his appointment to the U.S. Senate, Menendez was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New Jersey's 13th congressional district. He previously served as Mayor of Union City (1986–1992) and as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and the New Jersey Senate.
Following the 2008 elections, Menendez was appointed to head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Bob Menendez was born on New Year's Day in New York City to Cuban immigrants who left their homeland a few months earlier, in 1953, seeking economic and political freedom from the repressive government headed by Fulgencio Batista. His father, Mario Menendez, was a carpenter, and his mother, Evangelina, a seamstress. The family subsequently moved to neighboring New Jersey where, growing up in Union City, he graduated from Union Hill High School.
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Brian Winters
Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952 in Rockaway, New York) is a former NBA guard/forward, coach and former WNBA head coach. He attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, NY, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina and was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers, and was then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. He had a productive, if unspectacular, 9-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and playing on 6 playoffs teams. Winters averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists over his career, with his best years coming from 1975 to 1979 when he averaged over 19 points and slightly less than 5 assists per game. His number 32 was retired by the Bucks.
After retiring from the NBA, Winters became an assistant coach for two years under legendary coach Pete Carril at Princeton. From there, he moved on to become an assistant coach under Hall of Famer, Lenny Wilkens, with the Cleveland Cavaliers for 7 years and Atlanta Hawks for two more. Next, he was the inaugural coach for the Vancouver Grizzlies for a year and a half. In recent years, Winters has coached with the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors. He was formerly the head coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, recently leading them to their first ever consecutive-year playoff appearances.
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Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (born June 28, 1934) is the senior United States Senator from Michigan, serving since 1979. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
He has been Michigan's senior senator since 1995. He has served as a U.S. Senator longer than any Senator in Michigan history. He was elected to a sixth term in 2008, which will end in January 2015. He is the younger brother of U.S. Representative Sander M. Levin.
Levin was born in Detroit, the son of Jewish parents Bess (née Levinson) and Saul R. Levin. He attended Detroit public schools and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1956 and from Harvard Law School in 1959. Soon after earning his law degree, he was admitted to the Michigan bar and opened a practice in Detroit, where he still lives. He received honorary degrees from Michigan State University in 2004, Wayne State University in 2005, and Michigan Technological University in 2008.
He was state assistant police officer and general counsel for the Michigan civil rights commission from 1964 to 1967. He was special assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan and chief appellate defender for the city of Detroit from 1968 to 1969. He was a member of the Detroit City Council from 1969 to 1977, serving two four-year terms, the last four years as council president.
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Charles Durkee
Charles Durkee (December 10, 1805 – January 14, 1870) was an American politician and a Congressman and Senator from Wisconsin.
Durkee was born in Royalton, Vermont. He became a merchant and moved to Wisconsin in 1836. There he became involved in agriculture and lumbering, and was a founder of the town of Southport (later Kenosha, Wisconsin). Land he once owned in Kenosha is now part of the Library Park Historic District.
He entered politics, serving two terms in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. He became a member of the Free Soil Party and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1848 as part of Wisconsin's first full congressional delegation. He served in the House for two terms, until 1853. In 1854, he switched to the newly formed Republican Party and was elected to the United States Senate by the Wisconsin State Legislature. He served for one term, from 1855 to 1861. In 1865 he became governor of the Utah Territory, and served in that position until 1869 when he resigned because of ill health. He died in Omaha, Nebraska while returning home.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Chris Coons
Christopher Andrew "Chris" Coons (born September 9, 1963) is the junior United States senator from Delaware and a member of the Democratic Party. He won a special election in 2010 to succeed Joe Biden, who had resigned to become Vice President. Previously, Coons was the county executive of New Castle County. Coons is the 1983 Truman Scholar from Delaware, and the first recipient of the award to serve in the United States Senate.
A native of Hockessin, Delaware, Coons graduated from Amherst College and received graduate degrees from Yale Divinity School and Yale Law School. He went to work as a volunteer relief worker in Kenya, where he had taken classes in the University of Nairobi, later returning to the U.S. to work for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York. He spent some time as a legal clerk in New York before returning to Delaware in 1996, where he spent eight years as in-house counsel for a materials manufacturing company. In the interim he worked for several nonprofit organizations.
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Chris Ford
Christopher Joseph Ford (born January 11, 1949 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA) is a former professional basketball player and head coach. A 6-foot-5 (1.96 m) guard, he played high school basketball at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, New Jersey, before continuing on to Villanova University.
He played 10 seasons (1972–1982) in the NBA as a member of the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics. Ford is credited with scoring the NBA's first three-point shot for the Boston Celtics on October 12, 1979 in a game against the Houston Rockets at Boston Garden. After winning a championship with the Boston Celtics, he ended his playing career in 1982 with 7,314 total points.
Ford later served as a head coach for the Celtics (1990–95), the Milwaukee Bucks (1996–98), the Los Angeles Clippers (1998–2000), and the Philadelphia 76ers (2003–04). He coached the Eastern All-Stars in the 1991 NBA All-Star game. He also served as an assistant with the Celtics and Sixers.
In addition to coaching at the professional level, Ford spent two seasons (2001–2003) as head basketball coach at Brandeis University, a Division III school in Waltham, Mass.
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Christian Porter
Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Bateman and is Treasurer and Attorney-General in the Liberal-National government. He entered Parliament after winning the seat of Murdoch in a by-election in 2008 following the death of the sitting member, Trevor Sprigg. Porter was immediately appointed as Shadow Attorney General.
At the 2008 election, Porter contested and won the newly created seat of Bateman following the abolition of the seat of Murdoch in the 2007 redistribution. He was also appointed Attorney-General and Minister for Corrective Services after the election.
On 14 December 2010, Porter was sworn in as Treasurer of Western Australia. He retained the portfolio of Attorney General, while the Corrective Services portfolio was transferred to Terry Redman.
Porter was educated at the University of Western Australia where he graduated Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in politics, before completing a Bachelor of Law degree Porter later studied at the London School of Economics in a Masters of Political Theory from which he graduated at the top of his class with distinction.
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Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is the senior United States Senator from Iowa, serving since 1981. A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives (1975–1981) and the Iowa state legislature (1959–1974). He was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from January to June 2001 and from January 2003 to December 2006. He is currently the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
Grassley was born in New Hartford, Iowa, the son of Ruth (née Corwin) and Louis Arthur Grassley, and graduated from the town high school. At Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa), he earned a B.A. in 1955 and an M.A. in 1956. Also during the 1950s, Grassley farmed and worked in factories, first as a sheet metal shearer and then as an assembly line worker. He studied toward a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Iowa. In 1967-1968 Grassley taught at the now-defunct Charles City College.
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Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer (/ˈʃuːmər/; born November 23, 1950) is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a margin of 66%–33%.
Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Schumer served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1999. He represented New York's 16th congressional district, which was later redistricted to the 10th congressional district in 1983 and to the 9th congressional district in 1993. A native of Brooklyn and graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly, serving from 1975 to 1980.
Schumer was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2009, in which post he oversaw a total of 14 Democratic gains in the Senate in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Elected Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate, in 2006, he is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. In November 2010, he was also chosen to hold the additional role of chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee starting at the opening of the 112th Congress.
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Claire McCaskill
Claire Conner McCaskill (pronounced /məˈkæskəl/; born July 24, 1953) is the senior United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Democratic Party. She defeated Republican incumbent Jim Talent in the 2006 United States Senate election, by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%. She is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in her own right. She became the state's senior U.S. Senator upon the retirement of Kit Bond in 2011.
Before her election to the U.S. Senate, McCaskill was State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007. She previously served as Jackson County Prosecutor (1993–1998) and a member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1983–1988). She was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Missouri in the 2004 gubernatorial election. She is a native of Rolla and graduate of the University of Missouri.
In the U.S. Senate, McCaskill serves as a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Special Committee on Aging. She is chairperson of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight.
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Clayton Bennett
Clayton "Clay" IkeBennett (born 1959) is an American businessman and chairman of the Professional Basketball Club LLC, the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA franchise that was formerly the Seattle SuperSonics. Bennett is the chairman of Oklahoma City-based Dorchester Capital Corporation, as well as the chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Heritage Association.
Bennett was one of the principal owners of the San Antonio Spurs in the mid-1990s, where one of his primary duties was to represent the team on the NBA Board of Governors. Immediately prior to the 2005-06 NBA season, Bennett, along with Aubrey McClendon of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Tom L. Ward of Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy Corporation, and G. Jeffrey Records Jr. of Oklahoma City based MidFirst Bank, partnered with the City of Oklahoma City and the State of Oklahoma in providing a revenue guarantee for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. This resulted in the relocation of the Hornets to Oklahoma City for two seasons. The temporary relocation to Oklahoma City stemmed from damage to the arena and infrastructure in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina.
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Dan Coats
Daniel Ray "Dan" Coats (born May 16, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Indiana and member of the Republican Party. He was in the United States Senate from 1989 to 1999, retired, and then returned in 2011.
Born in Jackson, Michigan, Coats graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. Before serving in the U.S. Senate, Coats was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 4th congressional district from 1981 to 1989. He was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Dan Quayle following Quayle's election as Vice President of the United States in 1988. Coats won the 1990 special election to serve the remainder of Quayle's unexpired term, as well as the 1992 election for a full six-year term. He did not seek reelection in 1998, and was succeeded by Evan Bayh.
After retiring from the Senate, Coats served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005, and then worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He was re-elected to the Senate by a large margin in 2010, succeeding Bayh, who announced his own retirement shortly after Coats declared his candidacy. Along with Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, he is one of two current Senators to have returned to the Senate after having retired from the Senate.
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Daniel Akaka
Daniel Kahikina Akaka (/əˈkɑːkə/; born September 11, 1924) is the junior United States Senator from Hawaii and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry and is currently the only member of the Senate who has Chinese ancestry.
Born in Honolulu, he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He attended the University of Hawaii, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Originally a high school teacher, he went on to serve as a principal for six years. In 1969, he was hired by the Department of Education as a chief program planner. In the 1970s he served in various governmental positions. He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1976 to represent Hawaii's Second Congressional District, and he served for 13 years. In 1990 he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed the deceased Spark Matsunaga. Akaka would later be re-elected to three full terms. In March 2011 he announced that he will not run for re-election in 2012.
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Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye (/ɨˈnoʊweɪ/; Japanese: 井上 建, Inoue Ken; born September 7, 1924) is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations.
A senator since 1963, Inouye is the most senior senator. He is also the second longest serving U.S. Senator in history after Robert Byrd. Inouye has continuously represented Hawaii in the U.S. Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959, serving as Hawaii's first U.S. Representative and later a senator. Inouye was the first Japanese-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. At age 87, Inouye is the second-oldest current senator, after 88 year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. He is also a recipient of the United States Medal of Honor, as well as other military awards.
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Dave Cowens
David William Cowens (born October 25, 1948, in Newport, Kentucky) is a retired American professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center and occasionally the power forward position. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. He was recently an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, and currently serves as a special assistant to Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars.
After starring in high school at Newport Catholic High in his hometown of Newport, Kentucky, Cowens played his collegiate basketball at Florida State University from 1967 to 1970. He scored 1,479 points in 78 games at Florida State, at 19.0 points per game, and ranks among Florida State's top 10 all-time scoring leaders.
He is the all-time Florida State leading rebounder with 1,340 rebounds (17.2 rebounds per game). He holds the team record for best seasonal rebound average (17.5 in the 1968-1969 season). He once grabbed 31 rebounds (second best all-time) against LSU in the 1968-69 season.
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Dave Obey
David Ross "Dave" Obey (pronounced /ˈoʊbiː/ OH-bee; born October 3, 1938) is the former U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, serving 21 consecutive terms from 1969 until 2011. The district includes much of the northwestern portion of the state, including Wausau and Superior. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and served as Chairman of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations from 1994 to 1995 and again from 2007-2011.
On May 5, 2010, Obey announced that he would not seek reelection to Congress in November 2010. He left Congress in January 2011, and was succeeded by Republican Sean Duffy. He began working for Gephardt Government Affairs, a lobbying firm founded by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, in June 2011.
Obey was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the son of Mary Jane (née Chellis) and Orville John Obey. Soon after his birth, his family moved back to his parents' native Wisconsin, and Obey was raised in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he has lived since. He graduated from Wausau East High School and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from and did his graduate work in Soviet politics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Before serving in Congress, Obey worked as a real estate broker.
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David Vitter
David Bruce Vitter (born May 3, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives before entering the U.S. House.
In July 2007, Vitter was identified as a client of a prostitution service. He won a second Senate term in 2010, defeating a Democratic challenge from U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon of Napoleonville, the seat of Assumption Parish. In the Republican primary held on August 28, 2010, Vitter handily defeated former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet D. Traylor of Monroe, formerly from Winnsboro.
Vitter was born in New Orleans, the son of Audrey Malvina (née St. Raymond) and Albert Leopold Vitter, and graduated in 1979 from De La Salle High School. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1983; a B.A. from Oxford University in 1985, as a Rhodes Scholar; and a J.D. from the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans in 1988. He was a lawyer, and adjunct law professor at Tulane and Loyola University New Orleans.
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Dean Heller
Dean A. Heller (born May 10, 1960) is the junior United States Senator from Nevada and a member of the Republican Party. Heller was appointed by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to a vacant seat created by the resignation of John Ensign. He was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Nevada's 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2011. Prior to that he served as Secretary of State of Nevada (1994–2006) and a member of the Nevada Assembly (1990–1994). He announced that he will run in the 2012 election for the United States Senate seat to which he was appointed.
Heller is long time resident of Carson City—moving there from his birthplace of Castro Valley, California, at the age of 9 months—and a graduate of Carson High School. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, specializing in finance and securities analysis, from the University of Southern California in 1985. Prior to entering politics, Heller worked as an institutional stockbroker and as a broker/trader on the Pacific Stock Exchange.
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Debbie Stabenow
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Greer Stabenow (born April 29, 1950) is the junior United States Senator from Michigan and a member of the Democratic Party. Before her election to the U.S. Senate, she was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Michigan's 8th congressional district from 1997 to 2001. She previously served as a member of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, Michigan House of Representatives, and Michigan Senate.
Stabenow defeated first-term Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham in the 2000 U.S. Senate election, becoming the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Michigan. She and Maria Cantwell were the first women to defeat incumbent Senators in a general election. Stabenow was re-elected easily in 2006, receiving 57% of the vote.
Stabenow currently serves as Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her current Senate term ends in January 2013 and she is seeking re-election to the seat in November 2012.
Stabenow was born in Gladwin, Michigan, the daughter of Anna Merle (née Hallmark) and Robert Lee Greer. She grew up in Clare, Michigan, where her father and grandfather owned an auto dealership. She graduated from Clare High School. She received a B.A. from Michigan State University in 1972 and a M.S.W. magna cum laude from Michigan State University in 1975.
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Del Harris
Delmer (Del) William Harris (born June 18, 1937) is a basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. He was an assistant coach for the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks. He also served as an NBA head coach for the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Lakers.
Harris is a graduate of Milligan College in northeast Tennessee, where his basketball career landed him in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. Early in his career Harris was coach at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana before entering professional ranks in 1975 as an assistant coach for the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association, under head coach Tom Nissalke. When that franchise folded, Nissalke and Harris were hired as head and assistant coach, respectively for the NBA's Houston Rockets. When Nissalke was let go by the club, Harris was asked to take over head coaching duties. Harris led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in the 1981 season, where they were defeated by the Boston Celtics four games to two.
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Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( /ˈfaɪnstaɪn/; born June 22, 1933) is the senior United States Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.
Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University. In the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention to the city. Feinstein, who was the first to discover the shootings, succeeded Moscone as mayor. During her tenure as San Francisco's first female mayor she took a politically moderate stance, leading a revamp of the city's cable car system and overseeing the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two became California's first female U.S. Senators. Feinstein formerly chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007–2009) and has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. She is also the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.
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Dick Durbin
Richard Joseph "Dick" Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is the senior United States Senator from Illinois and the Senate Majority Whip, the second highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate.
Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, he graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Georgetown University Law Center. Working in state legal counsel throughout the 1970s, he made an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1978. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, representing the Springfield-based 20th congressional district. In 1996 he won election to the U.S. Senate by an unexpected 15-point margin. He has served as Senate Democratic Whip since 2005, and assumed his current title when the Democratic Party obtained a majority in 2007.
Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois to an Irish-American father, William Durbin, and a Lithuanian-born mother, Anna (née Kutkin; Lithuanian: Ona Kutkaitė). He graduated from Assumption High School in East St. Louis in 1962. During his high school years he worked at a meatpacking plant. He earned a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1966. He was an intern in the office of Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois during his senior year in college. Durbin earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969 and was admitted to the Illinois bar later that year.
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Don Nelson
Donald Arvid "Don" Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is a former NBA player and head coach. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors.
An innovator, Nelson is credited with, among other things, inventing the concept of the point forward, a tactic which is frequently employed by teams at every level today. His unique brand of basketball is often referred to as Nellie Ball. He was named one of the Top 10 coaches in NBA history. On April 7, 2010, he passed Lenny Wilkens for first place on the all-time NBA wins list with 1,333 wins. His all-time record is 1,335-1,063 (.557).
After a very successful high school career at Rock Island High School, Nelson played for the University of Iowa as a two-time All-American averaging 21.1 points and 10.5 rebounds a game. He was drafted 19th overall by the Chicago Zephyrs of the NBA. He played for the Zephyrs one season, and was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1963. After two years with the Lakers, he was signed by the Boston Celtics.
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Donald Sterling
Donald T. Sterling is an American real estate mogul, attorney, and the owner of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Clippers. Sterling acquired the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5 million, and as of the 2008 rankings, the team is valued at $297 million by Forbes magazine, ranking them twenty-fifth out of thirty teams.
Donald Tokowitz (legally added Sterling as his last name as an adult) was born in 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, but he and his family moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, when he was two years old. His parents, Susan and Mickey, were Jewish immigrants. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, where he was on the school's gymnastics team and served as class president; he graduated in 1952. He next attended California State University, Los Angeles (Class of 1956) and Southwestern University School of Law (Class of 1960) in Los Angeles. Starting in 1961, he began to make his career as a divorce and personal injury attorney, but he made his biggest ventures in real estate, which he began when he purchased a 26-unit apartment building in Beverly Hills.
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Doug La Follette
Douglas J. "Doug" La Follette (born June 6, 1940) is an American academic, environmental activist, and politician from the state of Wisconsin. A Democrat, he is the current Secretary of State of Wisconsin. He ran for Governor in the special election to recall Scott Walker.
La Follette was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Marietta College, his Master of Science in chemistry from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Columbia University. He began a teaching career as an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin–Parkside in Kenosha.
Known as an environmentalist before running for public office, he was a Wisconsin organizer of the first Earth Day for Gaylord Nelson in 1970 and co-founded Wisconsin's Environmental Decade (now known as Clean Wisconsin) with Peter Anderson.
His great-grandfather and "Fighting Bob" La Follette's father were brothers.
La Follette first ran for office in the 1970 U.S. House of Representatives election, losing to Les Aspin in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district. La Follette served in the Wisconsin State Senate for Kenosha for one term.
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Ed Garvey
Edward R. Garvey (born in Burlington, Wisconsin) is a lawyer, politician and activist.
Edward Garvey graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and spent two years in the U.S. Army; he then returned to the University of Wisconsin Law School and earned a law degree.
Soon after graduation, Garvey joined Lindquist and Vennum, a Minneapolis law firm. The firm worked for the National Football League's players' union, and in 1970 Garvey was assigned to counsel union president John Mackey regarding negotiations on a new four year contract with the league's owners. Garvey was later offered the position of executive director in the reorganized union, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) in 1971. Garvey served as its executive director until 1983, through two strikes (in 1974 and 1982) and frequently invoking antitrust legislation in his many court battles with the league. Garvey directed the NFLPA though a series of court battles that led, in 1975, to the ruling in Mackey v. NFL that antitrust laws applied to the NFL's restrictions on player movement. In 1976, armed with leverage regarding player movement from team to team, Garvey and the union won major concessions from the owners. Garvey's negotiations with the league exchanged the players' threat of pursuing a system of unfettered free agency for an improved package of player benefits. The NFLPA became recognized by the owners as a full-fledged National Labor Relations Board union, and damages totalling $13.65 million were awarded to past and present players for antitrust violations against them.
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Ernie Grunfeld
Ernest "Ernie" Grunfeld (born April 24, 1955) is the General Manager of the Washington Wizards. He was also once a professional basketball player. He served as general manager of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association from 1989 to 1999, and as the Bucks' general manager from 1999–2003, at which time he became the President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards.
Born in Satu Mare, Romania, Grunfeld immigrated together with his parents, Alex and Livia to the United States in 1964. He grew up in Forest Hills, in Queens, New York City, where he attended Forest Hills High School.
In the summer of 1973, Grunfeld was selected to play on the American team for the Maccabiah Games, the only high school student on the starting five. He led the team in scoring with a 20-point average, but Israel defeated the U.S. in the final 86–80.
Some 200 colleges pursued him. He rejected such major basketball powers as Marquette and Notre Dame, and picked the University of Tennessee because he liked the facilities, the schedule, and the chance it afforded him to become a college star. He starred with fellow New York City high schooler and future NBA star, Bernard King. Together they were dubbed the "Ernie and Bernie Show." Together they averaged over 40 points per game. In his sophomore year he averaged 23.8 points per game; in his junior year, 25.3; and in his senior year, 23.8. He left as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,249 points, a total later surpassed by Allan Houston in 1993.
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Evan Bayh
Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III (pronounced /ˈbaɪ/ BY; born December 26, 1955) is a lawyer, advisor and former Democratic politician who served as the junior U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011. He earlier served as the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.
Bayh first held public office as the Secretary of State of Indiana, elected in 1986. He held the position for only two years before being elected Governor where he successfully advocated for state welfare reform, tax cuts, and fiscal discipline. He left his office after completing two terms and briefly took a job lecturing at Indiana University Kelley School of Business, before being elected to the U.S. Senate seat once held by his father, Birch Bayh.
On February 15, 2010, Bayh announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate in 2010. After leaving the Senate, he became a partner with the law firm McGuireWoods in the firm's Washington, D.C., office. He also serves as a senior adviser with Apollo Global Management. He was hired as a Fox News contributor in March 2011.
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F. Ryan Duffy
Francis Ryan Duffy (June 23, 1888 – August 16, 1979) was a member of the Democratic Party who served in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1933 to 1939 and later a United States federal judge.
Duffy was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1910, received an LL.B. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1912. After working in private practice in Fond du Lac from 1912 to 1917, he served in the United States Army from 1917 to 1919. He resumed the practice of law after his service.
Duffy was then elected to the United States Senate, serving as a senator from Wisconsin from 1933 to 1939.
After serving Wisconsin in the United States Senate, Duffy was nominated to be a Judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 21, 1939 to a seat vacated by Ferdinand August Geiger. He was duly confirmed by the Senate on June 29, 1939.
In 1949 Duffy was nominated to be a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by President Harry S. Truman on January 13, 1949 to a seat vacated by Evan Alfred Evans. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 31, 1949 and received his commission on February 2. In 1954 he became Chief Judge of that same court, serving until 1959. He assumed senior status in 1966, remaining on the Court until his death.
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Frank Hamblen
Frank Hamblen is a National Basketball Association (NBA) coach and scout, and a former college basketball player at Syracuse University. He has served as an interim head coach for two different teams; for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1992 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2005. He also has served as an assistant coach on four NBA teams (Kansas City/Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers), often alongside Phil Jackson. Hamblen has been an assistant coach on seven championship teams, two with Jackson's Bulls and five with Jackson's Lakers. Jackson retired after the 2010–11 season, and Hamblen's contract with the Lakers expired as well.
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Frank Lautenberg
Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (/ˈlɔːtənbɜrɡ/; born January 23, 1924) is the senior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. He first served in the United States Senate from 1982 to 2001; after a brief retirement, he was re-elected to the Senate and has served since 2003. At age 88, Lautenberg is the oldest current senator. Before entering politics, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Lautenberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Sam and Mollie Lautenberg, impoverished Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia who had arrived in the United States as infants. When Lautenberg was 19, his father, Sam, who worked in silk mills, sold coal, farmed and once ran a tavern, died of cancer. Frank Lautenberg had no formal Jewish education as a child; the family could not afford to join a synagogue and did not live very long in any single place.
Lautenberg served overseas in the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II after graduating from Nutley High School. Then, financed by the GI Bill, he attended and graduated from Columbia Business School in 1949 with a degree in economics. He was the first salesman at successful Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) and was its chairman and CEO. He was the executive commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.
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Fred Upton
Frederick Stephen "Fred" Upton (born April 23, 1953) is the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 6th congressional district, serving since 1987. He is a member of the Republican Party and Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The district, based in Kalamazoo, stretches along the Michigan-Indiana border in the southwestern part of the state.Fred Upton is also the wealthiest Michigan congressmen with a net worth of $16,288,608.[citation needed] Upton favors the Keystone XL extension stating it will lower gasoline prices, while others disagree stating the environmental risks are too high.
Upton was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, the son of Elizabeth B. (née Vial) and Stephen Edward Upton. Upton earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Michigan in 1975. He was a sports editor at The Michigan Daily and thought he might someday cover the Chicago Cubs. He served on the congressional staff of U.S. Congressman David Stockman (R-MI) from 1976 to 1980. He was in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985, while David Stockman was OMB Director.
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Gaylord Nelson
Gaylord Anton Nelson (June 4, 1916 – July 3, 2005) was an American politician from Wisconsin who served as a United States Senator and governor. A Democrat, he was the principal founder of Earth Day.
Nelson was born in Clear Lake, Wisconsin in 1916. He was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1958, and served two two-years terms before successfully running for Senate in 1962. He served three consecutive terms as a senator from 1963 to 1981. Always passionate about the environmental issues, he is mentioned with Al Gore, Karson Coker, and Steve Irwin. In 1963 he traveled on the Conservation Tour with President John F. Kennedy and was the principal founder of Earth Day, the first observation of which was held in 1970.
In 1970, Nelson called for Congressional hearings on the safety of combined oral contraceptive pills, which were famously called "The Nelson Pill Hearings." As a result of the hearings, side-effect disclosure was required for the pill in patient inserts – the first such disclosure for a pharmaceutical drug.
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George Karl
George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is a former National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA) player. He is the current head coach of the Denver Nuggets. On December 10, 2010 he became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins.
Karl was born in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a college career at the University of North Carolina he signed with the ABA's San Antonio Spurs in 1973. When the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976, Karl began his two-year NBA playing career.
After his playing career, Karl became an assistant coach for the Spurs. Karl then moved on to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as head coach of the Montana Golden Nuggets (Great Falls). As coach of the Golden Nuggets, Karl won CBA Coach of the Year twice, in 1981 and 1983.
In 1984, Karl became the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, taking them to the playoffs in 1985. He was dismissed by the Cavs in 1986 near the end of the season.
In the 1986-87 season Karl coached the Golden State Warriors and took them from a record of 30-52 the year before, to the playoffs for the first time in ten years. They reached the semi-final round against the Magic Johnson led Los Angeles Lakers, game four of which is still shown on TV in the NBA's Greatest Games series. Eric "Sleepy" Floyd scored 12 straight field goals in the fourth quarter that gave him a still NBA playoff record 29 as well as a still standing record 39 in the second half and finished with 51 points in Golden State's 129-121 win.
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Glen Taylor
Glen A. Taylor (born April 20, 1941) is an American businessman who is the majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team, owner of the Minnesota Lynx WNBA basketball team, and a former member of the Minnesota Senate.
Taylor grew up on a farm in Comfrey, Minnesota. He graduated from Comfrey High School in 1959, and received a B.S. from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1962. In 1982 he participated in an executive education program for business owners and presidents at Harvard Business School.
During and after college, he worked at Carlson Wedding Service (later Carlson Craft), a Mankato print shop specializing in formal invitations. When the company's owner was looking to retire, Taylor offered to pay $2 million over the course of 10 years for the company. This purchase (which he paid off early) formed the basis for the Taylor Corporation, based in North Mankato, Minnesota.
Taylor was a Republican Minnesota State Senator from 1981 to 1990, serving as assistant minority leader from 1983 to 1985 and Minority Leader from 1985 to 1988.
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Gwen Moore
Gwendolynne Sophia Moore (born April 18, 1951) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 4th congressional district, serving since 2005. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
The district is based in Milwaukee and also includes South Milwaukee, Cudahy and St. Francis, and part of West Allis. She is the first woman to represent the district. She is also the second woman and the first African-American elected to Congress from Wisconsin.
Moore was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but has spent most of her life in Milwaukee. She is the eighth of nine children; her father was a factory worker and her mother a public school teacher. Moore attended North Division High School and served as student council president. She later attended Marquette University and became a single mother and was for a while a welfare recipient. Nonetheless, she was able to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, graduating in 1973.
She worked as an organizer with Volunteers In Service to America. Through the program, she worked to establish the Cream City Community Development Credit Union to offer grants and loans to low-income residents to start businesses. For her work, she was awarded the national “VISTA Volunteer of the Decade” award from 1976-1986. From 1985 to 1989, she worked for the City of Milwaukee as a neighborhood development strategist and for the state Department of Employment Relations and Health and Social Services. Moore also worked for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) as a housing officer.
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H. Irving Grousbeck
Harold Irving "Irv" Grousbeck (born 1934) is an entrepreneur, professor at Stanford Business School and co-owner of the National Basketball Association basketball team the Boston Celtics.
In 2003, Grousbeck together with his son Wycliffe Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca of Bain Capital, Robert Epstein, David Epstein, William P. Egan and John Svenson, acquired the Boston Celtics through their company Boston Basketball Partners LLC for $360 million.
Irv Grousbeck is one of the directors of Stanford Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Grousbeck came on the faculty at Stanford in 1985 first as a visiting lecturer and in 1986 as a lecturer. In 1996, he was named a consulting professor. Prior to Stanford, Grousbeck had been a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School from 1981 through 1985. Grousebeck teaches a number of topics relating to entrepreneurship and issues faced by entrepreneurial companies and individuals.
Grousbeck co-founded Continental Cablevision (later Media One) in 1964. He served as President of from 1964 through 1980 and was chairman from 1980 through 1985.
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Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid (born December 2, 1939) is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.
Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Nevada's 1st congressional district, and served in Nevada local and state government as city attorney of Henderson, a state legislator, the 25th Lieutenant Governor, and chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
As Senate Majority Leader and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Harry Reid has achieved a more senior elected position in the United States government than any Mormon in history.
Reid was born in Searchlight, Nevada, the third of the four sons of Inez Orena (née Jaynes), a laundress, and Harry Vincent Reid, a miner. His paternal grandmother was an English immigrant from Darlston, Staffordshire. Reid's boyhood home had no indoor toilet, hot water or telephone. Searchlight had no high school, so Reid boarded with relatives 40 miles away in Henderson, Nevada to attend Basic High School where he played football, and was an amateur boxer. While at Basic High he met future Nevada governor Mike O'Callaghan, who was a teacher there. Reid attended Southern Utah University and graduated from Utah State University where he double majored in political science and history. Reid also minored in economics from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. He then went to George Washington University Law School earning a J.D. while working for the United States Capitol Police.
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Henry Dodge
Henry Dodge (October 12, 1782 – June 19, 1867) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son was Augustus C. Dodge with whom he served in the U.S. Senate, the first, and so far only, father-son pair to serve concurrently. Henry Dodge was the half brother of Lewis F. Linn. James Clarke, the Governor of Iowa Territory, was the son-in-law of Henry Dodge.
Though was born in Vincennes, Indiana, he was raised a Kentuckian. Circumstance drove him to Spanish Missouri at an early age, where he rejoined his father Israel and an uncle. He dabbled in salt boiling and lead digging, and served as deputy sheriff of Ste. Genevieve County under his father. In 1801, he married Christiana McDonald.
During the War of 1812, Dodge was first elected as captain of a mounted company; he finished the war as a major general of the Missouri militia. His crowning achievement was saving about 150 Miami Indians from certain massacre after their raid on the Boone's Lick settlement in the summer of 1814.
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Herb Kohl
Herbert H. "Herb" Kohl (born February 7, 1935) is the senior United States Senator from Wisconsin and a member of the Democratic Party. He is also a philanthropist and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks National Basketball Association (NBA) team. He has announced he will not seek re-election in 2012.
Kohl was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended Washington High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1956 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1958. While an undergraduate, he joined the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Between 1958 and 1964, Kohl was a member of the United States Army Reserve.
After finishing graduate school, Kohl worked as an investor in real estate and the stock market, eventually spinning off his own company, Kohl Investments, to manage these assets. He and his brother became heir to a family-owned chain that included 50 grocery stores and several department stores, pharmacies, and liquor stores. In 1970, Kohl was named President of Kohl's and he helped to oversee the merger of his corporation with BATUS Inc. in 1972. Kohl stayed on as an executive until 1979. Before his election to the Senate, Kohl helped build his family-owned business, Kohl's grocery and department stores. He served as president from 1970 until the sale of the corporation in 1979.
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Isaac P. Walker
Isaac Pigeon Walker (November 2, 1815 – March 29, 1872) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin.
Walker was born in Virginia and moved with his family to Illinois in 1825. He practiced law in Springfield, Illinois, and served one term in the Illinois House of Representatives. He moved to Wisconsin in 1841 and practiced law in the Milwaukee area. He served in Wisconsin's territorial legislature from 1847 to 1848. When Wisconsin was admitted as a state in 1848, Walker was elected as a Democrat to represent Wisconsin in the United States Senate, where he served until 1855.
He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.
Isaac Walker's older brother, George H. Walker, was a founder and mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Isaac Stephenson
Isaac Stephenson (June 18, 1829 – March 15, 1918) was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Wisconsin as both a United States Representative and a United States Senator.
He was born in the Canadian community of Yorkton near Fredericton in York County, New Brunswick to Isaac Stephenson (1790–ca. 1875), a lumberman and farmer born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and Elizabeth (Watson) Stephenson (?–1838), who was born in London.
He worked in lumbering activities in the eastern U.S. for several years, principally in Maine, and in 1845 moved to Wisconsin, where for a time he managed absentee timber properties, but soon entered the lumber business for himself. In 1858 he settled permanently in Marinette, where his lumbering operations expanded steadily, especially during the Civil War. Although Stephenson suffered heavy losses in the Peshtigo Fire of 1871, he recouped, and soon was one of the wealthiest lumbermen in the Great Lakes area, with real-estate holdings in Marinette, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, and throughout the Great Lakes, as well as vast acreages of pine lands in northern Wisconsin and Michigan.
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James L. Dolan
James L. Dolan (born 1956) serves as President and CEO of Cablevision Systems Corporation and Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden, Inc.
Dolan is married and resides on Long Island with his wife Kristin. He is the son of Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and nephew of Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan. Dolan's two brothers, Patrick and Thomas, serve on Cablevision's Board of Directors.
After originally pursuing a career in music, Dolan eventually switched to a major in communications at SUNY New Paltz and began working for Cablevision in various capacities including sales before eventually being dispatched to Cleveland by his father to manage the launching of a sports radio station. In 1995 he was made CEO of Cablevision.
Throughout his early adult life Dolan battled drug and alcohol problems and was reportedly known for having a volatile temper. In 1993 he was sent to drug rehabilitation at the Hazelden clinic in Center City, Minnesota.
Dolan performs blues-inspired rock as the singer for JD & The Straight Shot and is also an avid sailor.
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Jay Rockefeller
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985. Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964, and was first elected to public office in the state, as a member of the House of Delegates, in 1966. Rockefeller was later elected Secretary of State in 1968 and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1976.
As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, he is the only currently-serving politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family and the only Democrat in what has been a traditionally Republican dynasty.
John Davison Rockefeller IV was born at New York Hospital in New York City to John D. Rockefeller III and Blanchette Ferry Hooker just 26 days after the death of his great-grandfather John D. Rockefeller. Jay Rockefeller graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1955 and from Harvard College in 1961 with an A.B. in Far Eastern Languages and History, after having spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
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Jay W. Johnson
Jay W. Johnson (September 30, 1943 – October 17, 2009) was the director of the United States Mint, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin, and a former television news anchor in the Green Bay area.
Johnson was born in Bessemer, Michigan. He graduated from Gogebic Community College in 1963 and Northern Michigan University in 1965. Johnson was an information specialist with the United States Army from 1966 until 1968. He was on the board of directors of the Wisconsin United Way. Johnson received a master's degree from Michigan State University in 1970.
He was a broadcaster and journalist working in Michigan, Indiana, Florida and for 16 years in Green Bay, Wisconsin for WFRV (Channel 5), then WLUK (Channel 11) from 1981 until 1996.
In 1996, Johnson was elected to Congress from Wisconsin's 8th congressional district after 18-year incumbent Toby Roth retired. He was only the third Democrat to represent the district in the 20th century. He unsuccessfully ran for re-election against State Representative Mark Green in 1998. From 2000 to 2001 he was the 36th Director of the United States Mint. After leaving the U.S. Mint, he was self-employed, selling wholesale coins and also the Chief Numismatist for The Franklin Mint.
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Jeanne Shaheen
Jeanne Shaheen (born Cynthia Jeanne Bowers; January 28, 1947) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the senior United States Senator from New Hampshire. The first woman in U.S. history to be elected as both a Governor and U.S. Senator, she was the first woman to be elected Governor of New Hampshire, serving from 1997 to 2003. Shaheen ran for the United States Senate in 2002, but was narrowly defeated by Republican challenger John E. Sununu. She then served as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, before resigning to run again for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 election, defeating Sununu in a rematch. Shaheen is the first Democratic senator from New Hampshire since John A. Durkin, who was defeated in 1980, and is currently the most junior senior Senator.
Shaheen was born Cynthia Jeanne Bowers in Saint Charles, Missouri, the daughter of Belle E. and Ivan E. Bowers. She is the wife of Lebanese-American attorney and political operative Bill Shaheen. They have three children. She graduated from high school in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and earned a bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from the University of Mississippi. She taught high school in Mississippi and moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she taught school and owned a small business.
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Jeff Bingaman
Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman, Jr. (born October 3, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from New Mexico and a member of the Democratic Party. He serves as Chairman of Committee Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus.
Previously, Bingaman was Attorney General of New Mexico.
On February 18, 2011, Bingaman announced that he would not seek re-election in 2012.
Bingaman was born in El Paso, Texas, the son of Frances Bethia (née Ball) and Jesse Francis Bingaman. He grew up in Silver City, New Mexico. His father taught at Western New Mexico University and his mother taught in the public schools system. At age 15, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts of America later presented Bingaman with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
After graduating from Silver High School, Bingaman went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Harvard University in 1965. He then entered Stanford Law School, graduating in 1968. He met his wife Anne Kovacovich while attending law classes. They have one son.
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Jeff Merkley
Jeffrey Alan "Jeff" Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is the junior United States Senator from Oregon. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley was a five-term member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly representing House District 47, located in eastern Multnomah County within the Portland city limits. He also served as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.
He defeated two-term Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in the 2008 U.S. Senate election.
Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty L. and Darrell Philip Merkley. His paternal grandmother was born in Caliope, Australia. He attended first grade in Roseburg before moving to Portland with his family. He graduated from David Douglas High School, obtained a bachelor of arts degree in International Relations from Stanford University in 1979, and earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1982.
After completing his master's in 1982, Merkley was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, working at the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the security of American military technology. After his fellowship, he worked in the Congressional Budget Office, analyzing nuclear weapons policies and programs.
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Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party. He serves as the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget Committee.
Raised in the town of Hybart in Monroe County, Alabama, Sessions graduated from Huntingdon College in Montgomery and the University of Alabama School of Law. In the 1970s he worked in private practice and rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. From 1981 to 1993 he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. President Ronald Reagan nominated him to a judgeship on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 1986, but the Senate confirmation failed after it was alleged that he had made racist remarks to a colleague. Sessions was elected to Attorney General of Alabama in 1994. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and easily re-elected in 2002 and 2008. He and his colleague Richard Shelby are the state's first two-term Republican Senators since Reconstruction.
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Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss (born January 27, 1934) is an American businessman, real estate investor, and a former chemist. He is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team along with other professional sports franchises in Southern California. Announced as a member of the 2010 induction class of the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 5, 2010, he was formally enshrined as a contributor to the sport on August 13 of that same year.
Buss worked his way through the University of Wyoming, graduating with a B.S. degree in two and a half years in 1953. He moved to Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California, where he earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in physical chemistry by age 24. Buss started as a chemist for the Bureau of Mines (now the Mine Safety and Health Administration); he then briefly worked in the aerospace industry and was on the faculty of USC's chemistry department. He originally went into real estate investing in order to provide an income so he could continue teaching. His first investment in the 1960s was $1,000 in a West Los Angeles apartment building. Finding great success in the real estate business, he pursued real estate investing full time. In 1979 Jerry purchased Pickfair Mansion in Beverly Hills from the estate of Mary Pickford. He was also the co-owner of a real estate investment company called Mariani-Buss Associates with his long time business partner Frank Mariani.
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Jerry Kleczka
Gerald Daniel "Jerry" Kleczka (born November 26, 1943), an American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1984 to 2005, representing Wisconsin's 4th congressional district. The district includes the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was born.
After graduating from Milwaukee's Don Bosco High School, in 1961, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for two years. Afterward, he served as an accountant and a member of the National Guard. Kleczka was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving from 1969 to 1974. Later, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate from 1975 to 1984. Kleczka was elected to the House following the death of Representative Clement Zablocki.
While in Congress, Kleczka was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and later the House Budget Committee. He was known to be one of the more liberal members of Congress and helped to secure money for many programs for education, poverty relief, and housing improvements.
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Jerry Moran
Gerald W. "Jerry" Moran (born May 29, 1954) is the junior United States Senator from Kansas and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Kansas's 1st congressional district.
Raised in Plainville, Kansas, Moran graduated from the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas School of Law. He worked in private law and served as the state special assistant attorney general (1982–85) and deputy attorney of Rooks County (1987–95). He served in the Kansas Senate (1989–1997), and was majority leader for his last two years. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996 and served six terms with little electoral opposition. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a landslide in 2010. He is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and has a strongly conservative voting record.
Moran was born in Great Bend, Kansas, the son of Madeline Eleanor (née Fletcher) and Raymond Edwin "Ray" Moran. He was raised in Plainville. He attended Fort Hays State University before enrolling at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1976. While attending the University of Kansas, he worked as a summer intern for U.S. Representative Keith Sebelius in 1974, when impeachment proceedings were being prepared against President Richard Nixon.
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Jim Inhofe
James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe (/ˈɪnhɒf/; born November 17, 1934) is the senior United States Senator from Oklahoma and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1994, he is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007. Inhofe served eight years as the United States Representative for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district before his election to the Senate in 1994 and also previously served as both an Oklahoma State Representative and Senator.
Inhofe was born in Des Moines, Iowa and moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was a child. He was a member of the Class of 1953 at Tulsa Central High School, and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958. Inhofe received a B.A. degree from the University of Tulsa in 1973.
Inhofe worked as a businessman for three decades before becoming a full-time politician. He worked in the field of aviation, as a real estate developer, and in insurance, eventually becoming the president of the Quaker Life Insurance Company. During the time he worked for Quaker Life, the company went into receivership; it was liquidated in 1986.
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Jim Moody
James Powers "Jim" Moody (born September 2, 1935) is an American economist, and former Democratic member of the U.S. Congress. Moody represented Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Congress from 1983 to 1993.
Moody was born September 2, 1935 in Richlands, Tazewell County, Virginia. He attended the Anglo-American High School in Athens, Greece. He went on to receive his B.A. from Haverford College in 1957. After college, he served as a CARE International representative in Yugoslavia and Iran, delivering US donated assistance to hospitals and orphanages. After CARE, he was assigned to set up the first Peace Corps operation in Pakistan (East and West Pakistan at that time) which was also the first Peace Program in Continental Asia. Responsibilities included negotiating the formal agreement with the Pakistan Government, identifying specific local assignment for incoming Peace Corps Volunteers in hospitals, schools, development centers, etc. Following his initial overseas service (below) he earned his MPA at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973.
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Jim Paschke
Jim Paschke is an American sportscaster. A native of Bloomington, Minnesota he began his broadcasting career in radio in Knoxville, Iowa after studying at the University of Minnesota and Brown Institute in Minneapolis. He has handled play-by-play duties for a wide array of sports at all levels, but is most recognized for his work as the Milwaukee Brewers television announcer (1987–91, 1995–96), Big Ten football announcer and is currently the television voice of the Milwaukee Bucks (1986–present). Jim Paschke and his television partner Jon McGlocklin are one of the longest tenured teams in the NBA.
On April 15, 1987 television viewers and Milwaukee Brewers fans heard Jim call the only no-hitter in franchise history.
Paschke is a four-time regional Emmy Award Winner. In October 2007, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a "Friend of Basketball."
Jim is the author of Paschketball, a video blog featured on the Milwaukee Bucks website. "Paschketball" was coined by a young Bucks fan, Matt Gritzmacher.
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Jim Risch
James Elroy "Jim" Risch (born May 3, 1943) is a Republican politician, rancher, and attorney from Ada County, currently serving as the junior United States Senator from Idaho. He previously served as the 39th and 41st Lieutenant Governor (2003–2006, 2007–2009) and the 31st Governor (2006–2007) of Idaho.
Risch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Helen B. (née Levi) and Elroy A. Risch. His father was of German descent and his mother was of Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from 1961 to 1963, then transferred to the University of Idaho where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He obtained his B.S. in Forestry in 1965 and continued his education at the university's College of Law, serving on Law Review, and receiving his J.D. in 1968.
Risch entered politics in 1970, at age 27, winning election as Ada County Prosecuting Attorney. While serving in this capacity, he taught undergraduate classes in criminal justice at Boise State University and served as the President of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
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Jim Sensenbrenner
Frank James (Jim) Sensenbrenner, Jr. (born June 14, 1943) is an American politician who has been a member of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives since 1979, representing Wisconsin's 5th congressional district (map). The district, the state's richest, includes many of Milwaukee's northern and western suburbs, and extends into rural Jefferson County. It was numbered as the 9th District until 2003. He has been a strong proponent of the Bush Administration's War on Terror.
He is the former Chairman of the House Science Committee and the former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; when the Republicans lost control of the House, he finished his six-year term as Chairman, and was not able to be chosen as the Judiciary Committee's ranking minority member (that honor went to Lamar S. Smith of Texas). He served as the Ranking Republican on the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011, when Republicans abolished the committee after regaining control of the House.
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Jim Webb
James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is the senior United States Senator from Virginia. He is also an author and a former Secretary of the Navy. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb served as a Marine Corps infantry officer until 1972, and is a highly decorated Vietnam War combat veteran. During his four years with the Reagan administration, Webb served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, then as Secretary of the Navy.
Webb won the Democratic nomination for the 2006 Virginia Senate race by defeating Harris Miller in the primary, then won the general election by defeating the Republican incumbent George Allen. Webb's thin margin in the general election (less than 0.5%) kept the outcome uncertain for nearly two days after polls closed on November 7, 2006, and provided the final seat that tilted the Senate to Democratic control. On his sixty-fifth birthday, he announced that he will not seek re-election in 2012, saying that he does not want to spend his whole life in politics, and that he wants to return to the private sector.
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Joe Lacob
Joseph "Joe" Lacob is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the majority owner of the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Lacob grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His father worked at a paper products company, his mother at a local supermarket. Lacob became a fan of the Boston Celtics. When Lacob was 14, the company that employed his father was sold, firing everyone except his dad, and Lacob's family relocated to Anaheim, California. Lacob subsequently became a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Lacob received a Bachelor's in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), a Master's in Public Health (epidemiology) from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business "I was a very poor kid," Lacob said. "Had nothing. I paid every dime of my education through college. Every single dime. I was the first person to graduate from college in the history of my family. Ever. I came from nothing."
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Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman (born February 24, 1942) is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.
Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Lieberman is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School. He was elected as a "reform Democrat" in 1970 to the Connecticut Senate, where he served three terms as Majority Leader. After an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, he served as state Attorney General from 1983 to 1989. Lieberman defeated moderate Republican Lowell Weicker in 1988 to win election to the United States Senate and was re-elected in 1994 and 2000. In the 2000 United States presidential election, Lieberman was the Democratic nominee for Vice President, running with presidential nominee Al Gore, becoming the first Jewish candidate on a major American political party presidential ticket. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 presidential election.
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Joe Manchin
Joseph "Joe" Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is the junior United States Senator representing West Virginia. Manchin, a Democrat, was Governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010. He won the special election in November 2010 to fill the seat of Robert Byrd, who had died in office; the term ends January 3, 2013.
Manchin was born in Farmington, West Virginia, in 1947, the second of five children of Mary (née Gouzd) and John Manchin. His grandparents were Italian and Czechoslovakian immigrants. His father owned a carpet and furniture store. His grandfather, Joe Manchin I, owned a grocery store. Both his father and his grandfather were elected as Mayor of Farmington, West Virginia. His uncle James Manchin was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and was elected statewide as West Virginia Secretary of State and West Virginia State Treasurer. Manchin graduated from Farmington High School in 1965.
Manchin entered West Virginia University on a football scholarship in 1965; however, an injury during practice ended his football career. He graduated in 1970 with a degree in information management and later became involved in several family-owned businesses.
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John Barrasso
John Anthony Barrasso III (pronounced /bəˈrɑːsoʊ/; born July 21, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Wyoming and a member of the Republican Party. He was appointed to the Senate following Craig L. Thomas's death and won a special election in 2008 to fill the remaining four years of Thomas's term.
Barrasso was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1952, the son of Louise M. (née DeCisco) and John Anthony Barrasso, Jr. He is of Italian descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Central Catholic High School in Reading, PA. Barrasso began his college career at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (where he became a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity) and transferred to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., graduating with a bachelor of science degree in 1974. He also received his M.D. degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1978. He conducted his residency at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.
In addition to his private orthopedic practice, Barrasso was Chief of Staff of the Wyoming Medical Center, State President of the Wyoming Medical Society, President of the National Association of Physician Broadcasters, and a member of the American Medical Association Council of Ethics and Judicial Affairs.
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John Boozman
John Nichols Boozman (pronounced /ˈboʊzmən/ BOHZ-mən; born December 10, 1950) is the junior United States Senator for Arkansas (since 2011). A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the United States Representative for Arkansas's 3rd congressional district (2001–2011).
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was the brother of state Senator Fay Boozman. He attended the University of Arkansas, where he played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks, and graduated from the Southern College of Optometry. He co-founded a private optometry clinic in 1977 and worked as a volunteer optometrist for low-income families. He won a special election in 2002 to the United States House of Representatives, where he served as assistant majority whip and sat on the Republican Policy Committee. He was an advocate for drug policy issues and chaired the Veteran Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, where he led the passage of bills expanding services for unemployed veterans.
Boozman was elected to the United States Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln by a 21 point margin, and took office in January 2011. He is the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources, the Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space, and the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy.
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John Coit Spooner
John Coit Spooner (January 6, 1843 – June 11, 1919) was a Republican politician and lawyer from Wisconsin. He served in the United States Senate from 1885 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1907.
Born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Spooner moved with his parents to Madison, Wisconsin in 1859. He attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1864. During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in the Union Army and at the close of the war was brevetted major. He served as private and military secretary to the Governor of Wisconsin, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1867, then serving as assistant attorney general of Wisconsin until 1870.
Spooner moved to Hudson, Wisconsin and practiced law there from 1870 to 1884. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1872 and was a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1884 and served from 1885 to 1891, being defeated for reelection by William F. Vilas. He served as chairman of the Committee on Claims from 1886 to 1891. Afterwards, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Wisconsin in 1892 and moved back to Madison in 1893. He was elected to the U.S. Senate again in 1896, was reelected in 1903, and served from 1897 until his resignation in 1907. He served as chairman of the Committee on Canadian Relations from 1897 to 1899 and of the Committee on Rules from 1899 to 1907. As a Senator, he sponsored the Spooner Act, which directed President Theodore Roosevelt to purchase the Panama Canal Zone.
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John Cornyn
John Cornyn III (born February 2, 1952) is the junior United States Senator for Texas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 111th U.S. Congress.
John Cornyn was voted one of the "most conservative congressman" by the National Journal in 2010.
Cornyn was born in Houston, the son of Atholene Gale Cornyn (née Danley) and John Cornyn II, a colonel in the U.S.A.F. He graduated from Trinity University in 1973, where he majored in journalism and was a member of Chi Delta Tau. He earned a J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1977 and an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995.
He served in San Antonio for six years as a district judge before being elected as a Republican in 1990 to the Texas Supreme Court, on which he served for seven years.
In 1998, Cornyn decided to run to become Texas Attorney General. In the March primary, Barry Williamson, Railroad Commissioner, placed first with 38% of the vote but failed to get the 50% threshold necessary to win the Republican nomination. Cornyn, then-State Supreme Court Justice, got second place with 32% and Tom Pauken, former Chairman of the Texas Republican party, got third place with 30%. In the April run-off election, Cornyn defeated Williamson 58% to 42%. In the general election, Cornyn defeated Jim Mattox, former U.S. Congressman and Attorney General (1983–1991), with 54% of the vote. Cornyn became only the second Republican to have held the position.
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John Hoeven
John Henry Hoeven III (born March 13, 1957) is the junior United States Senator from North Dakota. A member of the North Dakota Republican Party, he previously served as the 31st Governor of North Dakota from December 2000 to December 2010.
Prior to his election to the Governor's office, Hoeven served as the President of the nation's only state-owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota, from 1993 to 2000. Hoeven was elected to the U.S. Senate in the November 2, 2010 general election. He replaced junior Senator Byron L. Dorgan, who chose not to seek re-election. He was the longest-serving sitting Governor in the United States at the time of his resignation.
Immediately upon Hoeven's resignation as governor on December 7, 2010, Jack Dalrymple, who was the sitting lieutenant governor of North Dakota, automatically succeeded Hoeven as governor in accordance with the gubernatorial succession provisions of the Constitution of North Dakota.
Hoeven was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, the son of Patricia "Trish" (née Chapman) and John Henry "Jack" Hoeven, Jr. His ancestry includes Dutch, Swedish, and English. He attended Dartmouth College, where he belonged to the Alpha Chi Alpha Fraternity and graduated with honors. He then earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and was a banker in Minot, North Dakota prior to pursuing a political career. From 1993 to 2000, he was the president and CEO of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.
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John J. Blaine
John James Blaine (May 4, 1875 – April 16, 1934) was the 24th Governor of Wisconsin and a United States Senator. He served as Mayor of Boscobel, on the Grant County Board of Supervisors, Wisconsin Attorney General, and in the Wisconsin State Senate. He was born in Wingville, Grant County, Wisconsin and died in Boscobel, Wisconsin, where he was buried.
Blaine was the Republican Governor of Wisconsin from 1921 to 1927. In 1926, he defeated the Progressive Republican senator Irvine Lenroot in the primary, winning the general election with 55% of the vote against a weak Democratic candidate and strong Independent and Socialist Party candidates.
Blaine was the only senator to vote against ratification of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which was approved 85-1. He is also the author of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited intoxicating liquors.
In 1932, Blaine was defeated in the Republican primary by John B. Chapple, who was then defeated in the general election by F. Ryan Duffy, as part of massive Democratic victories in the national elections that year.
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John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to then President George W. Bush.
The son of an Army Air Corps serviceman, Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado. He attended boarding school in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and went on to graduate from Yale University class of 1966, where he majored in political science. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966 and, during 1968-1969, served a four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service he was awarded several combat medals that include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. After returning to the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in which he served as a nationally recognized spokesperson and as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam war. During that period, he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he deemed United States war policy in Vietnam to be the cause of "war crimes".
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John L. Mitchell
John Lendrum Mitchell (October 19, 1842 – June 29, 1904) was an American politician and a Democratic Congressman, Senator from Wisconsin, and a member of the Wisconsin State Senate. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
His father was the wealthy banking magnate and politician Alexander Mitchell and his oldest son was General Billy Mitchell, who is regarded as the father of the U.S. Air Force. His second son John Mitchell was also an early American aviator. Son John died in his fighter plane in 1917 in France. His daughter Ruth Mitchell was an author and gained some fame as a volunteer fighting the Germans with Yugoslavian chetniks in World War II.
He is buried at the Mitchell family plot in Forest Home Cemetery.
His papers, along with those of his father, are in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
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John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States election.
McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.
He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily four times, most recently in 2010. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, opposed spending that he considered to be pork barrel, and played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.
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John Thune
John Randolph Thune (born January 7, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from South Dakota and a member of the Republican Party. He previously served as a United States Representative for South Dakota's At-large congressional district.
Thune was born in the small town of Murdo, South Dakota, the son of Yvonne Patricia (née Bodine) and Harold Richard Thune. Thune's paternal grandfather was an immigrant from Norway who partnered with his brother to start Thune Hardware stores in Mitchell and Murdo, South Dakota. His maternal grandfather was from Ontario in Canada. Thune was a star athlete in high school, taking his basketball team near a state championship, and also played college basketball at Biola University.
Thune, who identifies as an evangelical Christian, graduated from Biola University, California in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business. Thune received the degree of Master of Public Administration from the University of South Dakota in 1984.
Thune worked as a legislative aide for U.S. Senator James Abdnor from 1985 to 1987. In 1980, Abdnor defeated U.S. Senator George McGovern, succeeding him. When Abdnor was defeated in 1986 by Tom Daschle, Thune followed Abdnor to the Small Business Administration under the Reagan Administration. In 1989, he returned to South Dakota, where he served as executive director of the Republican Party for two years.
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Johnny Isakson
John Hardy "Johnny" Isakson (born December 28, 1944) is the junior United States Senator from Georgia and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he represented Georgia's 6th Congressional district in the House.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Isakson served in the Georgia Air National Guard (1966–1972) and graduated from the University of Georgia. He opened a real estate branch for Northside Realty and later served 22 years as the company's president. After a failed bid for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1974, he was elected in 1976. He served five terms, including two as minority leader. Isakson was the Republican candidate for governor of Georgia in 1990, but lost. Two years later, he was elected to the Georgia Senate and served one term. He unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary in the 1996 U.S. Senate elections.
After 6th District Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich resigned, Isakson ran in the February 1999 special election to succeed him, winning by a 40-point margin. He ran for the U.S. Senate in November 2004 after conservative Democratic incumbent Zell Miller opted not to run for re-election. With the backing of much of Georgia's Republican establishment, he won both the primary and general elections by large margins. He is serving his second term after re-election to the Senate in 2010.
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Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl (/ˈkaɪl/; born April 25, 1942) is the junior United States Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.
The son of U.S. Representative John Henry Kyl, he was born and raised in Nebraska and lived for some time in Iowa. He received his bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Arizona. He worked in Phoenix, Arizona as a lawyer and lobbyist before winning election to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1987 to 1995. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and has been re-elected by large margins since.
Kyl was ranked by National Journal in 2007 as the fourth-most conservative U.S. Senator. He has been a fixture of Republican policy leadership posts, chairing the Republican Policy Committee (2003–2007) and the Republican Conference (2007). In December 2007 he became Senate Minority Whip. In February 2011, Kyl announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2012 and would retire at the end of his third term, which concludes on January 3, 2013. He expressly ruled out running for further office except, if offered, the Vice Presidency.
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Jon McGlocklin
Jon P. McGlocklin (born June 10, 1943 in Franklin, Indiana) is an American former professional basketball player.
A sharpshooting 6'5" guard from Indiana University, McGlockin was selected by the Cincinnati Royals in the third round of the 1965 NBA Draft, but he is best known for his 8-season (1968–1976) tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks, with whom he won an NBA Championship (as a teammate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson) in 1971. He scored 9,169 points in his NBA career, and his #14 jersey has been retired by the Bucks franchise. He also appeared in the 1969 NBA All-Star Game
McGlocklin was best known for his high-arcing "rainbow" jump shot from the wings, in what would now be three-point territory. It was most effective when paired in a two-man play with Jabbar: if the opposing guard fell back to double-team Jabbar, McGlocklin would make them pay from the perimeter; when the guard came out to defend him, he would pass the ball down to Jabbar with only one defender, who under most circumstances was out-matched.
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Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate.
The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character and/or patriotism of political opponents.
Born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, McCarthy earned a law degree at Marquette University in 1935 and was elected as a circuit judge in 1939, the youngest in state history. At age 33, McCarthy volunteered for the United States Marine Corps and served during World War II. He successfully ran for the United States Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette, Jr. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950 when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department. McCarthy was never able to prove his sensational charge.
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Joseph V. Quarles
Joseph Very Quarles, Jr. (December 16, 1843 – October 7, 1911) was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as a United States federal judge and as a United States Senator from Wisconsin.
Joseph Quarles was born in Kenosha (then Southport), Wisconsin, the son of Joseph Very Quarles and his wife Caroline (Bullen) Quarles. Both had moved to Wisconsin with their families when they were children. Joseph had one brother, Charles, who would become his law partner. He married Caroline "Carrie" Adelaide Saunders on September 25, 1868, and they had three sons: Joseph Very Quarles III, William Charles Quarles, and Edward Louis Quarles.
Quarles served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in 1866. He graduated again from the university's law department the next year, was admitted to the bar in 1868, and practiced law in Kenosha. There he served as district attorney for Kenosha County from 1870 to 1876 and as Kenosha's mayor in 1876.
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Junior Bridgeman
Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman (born September 17, 1953) is a retired American basketball player.
Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Bridgeman was a member of the 1971 East Chicago Washington High School Senators basketball team, which went undefeated (29-0) and won the Indiana state high school basketball championship. Among his teammates were his brother Sam, Pete Trgovich (who played at UCLA) and Tim Stoddard (N.C. State), who would go on to have success as a Major League Baseball pitcher.
A 6'5" guard/forward from the University of Louisville, Bridgeman was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975 and immediately traded with Brian Winters, David Meyers and Elmore Smith to the Milwaukee Bucks for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bridgeman went on to have a solid 12-year NBA career, spent mostly with the Bucks, and he scored 11,517 total points. Although he was a sixth man for most of his career, he averaged double figures in scoring for nine consecutive seasons. He played in 711 games for the Bucks, still the most in franchise history, although he started only 105 times. His #2 jersey was retired by the Bucks franchise in 1988.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., April 16, 1947) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards. In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. Abdul-Jabbar also has been an actor, basketball coach and an author. In 2012, he was selected as a U.S. cultural ambassador.
Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., on April 16, 1947, and grew up in Manhattan in New York City, the only child of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. At birth, he weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces (5.73 kg), and was twenty-two-and-a-half inches (57.2 cm) long. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St. Jude School in the Inwood section of Manhattan. Later in life, he converted to Islam. He initially joined the Nation of Islam in 1968, before retaking the Shahada and converting to Sunni Islam that same summer.
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Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, Hutchison also became the first Texas U.S. senator to receive more than four million votes in a single election.
Hutchison is the most senior female Republican senator, and fifth most senior female senator, having assumed office in June 1993 behind Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD, 1987), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA, 1992), Barbara Boxer (D-CA, Jan. 1993), and Patty Murray (D-WA, Jan. 1993).
Hutchison was born Kathryn Ann Bailey in Galveston, the daughter of Kathryn Ella (née Sharp) and Allan Abner Bailey, Jr., an insurance agent. She has two brothers, Allan and Frank. Hutchison grew up in La Marque, Texas.
She married her first husband, John Pierce Parks, a medical student, on April 8, 1967; they divorced in 1969. She married her present (second) husband, Ray Hutchison, in Dallas on March 16, 1978. They have two adopted children: Kathryn Bailey and Houston Taylor, both adopted in 2001. She also has two stepdaughters, Brenda and Julie, from her husband's previous marriage. Ray Hutchison is a former member of the Texas Legislature, a former state Republican chairman, and ran an unsuccessful bid for the Texas governorship, having lost the Republican nomination in 1978 to Bill Clements, a senior partner with the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, of Dallas.
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Kay Hagan
Kay Ruthven Hagan ( /ˈheɪɡən/; born May 26, 1953) is the junior United States Senator from North Carolina and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, she was in the North Carolina Senate.
When Hagan defeated Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole in the 2008 United States Senate election, she became the first woman to defeat a female incumbent in a Senate election.
Hagan was born Janet Kay Ruthven in Shelby, North Carolina, the daughter of Jeanette (née Chiles), a homemaker, and Josie Perry "Joe" Ruthven, a tire salesman. Both her father and her older brother served in the Navy. She spent most of her childhood in Lakeland, Florida, of which her father later became mayor. She also spent summers on her grams' farm in Chesterfield, South Carolina, where she helped string tobacco and harvest watermelons. As a child, Hagan engaged in her earliest political activity: placing bumper stickers on cars for her uncle, Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles. In the 1970s, she was an intern at the Capitol, operating an elevator that carried senators, including her uncle, to and from the Chamber.
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Keith Vaz
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz, known as Keith Vaz (born 26 November 1956 in Aden, Yemen) is a British Labour Party politician and a Member of Parliament for Leicester East. He is the longest-serving Asian MP and has been the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee since July 2007. He was appointed as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in June 2006. His parliamentary career has included a number of controversies, such as his suspension from the House of Commons in 2002 after making a false allegation against a former policewoman.
Keith Vaz was born in 1956 in Aden, Yemen, to parents originally from the Indian state of Goa, which accounts for his Goan-Portuguese surname. He moved to Bradford in England with his family in 1965. He was educated at Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith followed by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied law and obtained a BA 1st class Honours (1979), MA (1987), and MCFI (1988).
Vaz lives in London with his wife and two children, Luke and Anjali.
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Kelly Ayotte
Kelly A. Ayotte (born June 27, 1968) is the junior United States Senator from New Hampshire and a member of the Republican Party. She earlier served as the Attorney General of New Hampshire.
Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire on June 27, 1968, the daughter of Kathleen M. (née Sullivan) and Marc Frederick Ayotte. Her father's family is French-Canadian. She attended Nashua High School. She received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University majoring in political science. In 1993, Ayotte graduated from Villanova University School of Law, where she had served as Editor of the Environmental Law Journal.
Ayotte clerked for Sherman D. Horton Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, for one year. From 1994 to 1998, she was an associate at the Manchester law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton. In 1998, she joined the office of the New Hampshire Attorney General as a prosecutor. In 2003, Ayotte became legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson. She returned to the Attorney General's office three months later, becoming Deputy Attorney General. In June 2004, Ayotte was appointed Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire by Governor Craig Benson following Peter Heed's resignation as Attorney General amid allegations that he had sexually harassed a female state employee.
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Kent Conrad
Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is the senior 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. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he is currently chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
On January 18, 2011, Conrad announced that he would not run for re-election in 2012, but will instead retire. Conrad said in a statement that it was more important that "I spend my time and energy trying to focus on solving the nation's budget woes than be distracted by another campaign."
Conrad was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, the son of Abigail and Gaylord E. Conrad. He lived much of his early life in Bismarck. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his grandparents.[citation needed] He attended Roosevelt Elementary and Hughes Junior High, and several years of high school in Tripoli, Libya. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy before attending college at Stanford, and received an M.B.A. from the George Washington University.
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Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand (/ˈkɪərstən ˈdʒɪlɨbrænd/ KEER-stən JIL-ə-brand; born December 9, 1966) is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to being appointed to the Senate by New York Governor David Paterson in 2009, she was twice elected to the United States House of Representatives, from New York's 20th congressional district.
Gillibrand was born and raised in the Albany area. She is a 1988 graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in Asian studies. She received her Juris Doctor from UCLA Law School in 1991 and passed the bar the same year. She was an associate in the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in Manhattan before becoming a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Albany.
Gillibrand won an upset congressional election in November 2006, beating four-term incumbent John E. Sweeney 53% to 47%. Her reelection campaign in 2008 against Sandy Treadwell was significantly easier, winning 62% to 38%. In December 2008, then President-elect Barack Obama nominated Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State, leaving an empty seat in the New York senate delegation. After two months and many potential names considered, Governor David Paterson appointed Gillibrand to fill the seat. Gillibrand was required to run in a special election in 2010, which she easily won with 63% of the vote. Her term ends in 2013 and she is currently running for reelection in 2012.
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Lamar Alexander
Andrew Lamar Alexander, Jr. (born July 3, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Tennessee. He was previously the Conference Chair of the Republican Party from 2007 to 2012, the 45th Governor of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987, United States Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush and candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000.
Alexander was born in Maryville, Tennessee, where he was raised, to Genevra Floreine (née Rankin) and Andrew Lamar Alexander, a high school principal. In high school he was elected Governor of Tennessee Boys State. Alexander graduated with a B.A. from Vanderbilt University where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Chi Fraternity in 1962 and from the New York University School of Law in 1965. After graduating from law school, Alexander clerked for United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit judge John Minor Wisdom in New Orleans from 1965 to 1966.
In 1969 Alexander married Honey Buhler, who grew up in Victoria, Texas, and graduated from Smith College of Massachusetts. They had met during a softball game for Senate staff members; he was then a staffer for Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee while she worked for Senator John Tower of Texas. Together they have four children: Drew, Leslee, Kathryn, and Will.
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Larry Costello
Lawrence Ronald "Larry" Costello (July 2, 1931 in Minoa, New York – December 13, 2001) was an American professional basketball player and coach.
He was known as the National Basketball Association's last two-handed set shooter. After playing at Niagara University, he joined the Philadelphia Warriors in 1954. Two years later he was traded to the Syracuse Nationals. He retired in 1965 from the Philadelphia 76ers (the former Syracuse Nationals), but eventually came back for the 1966-67 NBA season after new head coach Alex Hannum told him he needed a veteran point guard. With 42 games into the season, Costello ripped his Achilles tendon on January 6, 1967 and was replaced by Wali Jones. He did, however, come back to participlate in the 1967 playoffs. Costello ended his career for the second and final time in 1968.
During his NBA career, Costello was selected to six NBA All-Star Games (playing in five). He led the league in free throw percentage in the 1962-63 and 1964-65 seasons.
Costello began his coaching career at East Syracuse-Minoa High School where he coached the boys varsity basketball team to the state championship for the first time in school history. He took over as head coach of the expansion team Milwaukee Bucks in 1968 and coached them to a league-best 66-16 mark in 1970-71 including a then-NBA record 20 game win streak. They won the championship in the post-season with a 4-0 sweep of the Baltimore Bullets. After a 3-15 start into the 1976-77 season, he was fired. He coached the Chicago Bulls for 56 games in 1978-79 before returning to Milwaukee to coach the Milwaukee Does of the Women's Professional Basketball League for part of the 1979-1980 season.
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Larry H. Miller
Lawrence Horne "Larry H." Miller (April 26, 1944 – February 20, 2009) was a Utah businessman and philanthropist who was well known as the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the of Triple-A baseball team, the Salt Lake Bees, 41 automotive dealerships throughout the Western United States, and a variety of other business ventures including Prestige Financial, Jordan Commons, Megaplex Theatres, KJZZ-TV, Miller Motorsports Park, the FANZZ chain of sports apparel stores, the advertising agency Saxton Horne - named after Miller's wife's maiden name and his middle-name, and the EnergySolutions Arena (formerly the "Delta Center"), all of which are still owned by the family's Larry H. Miller Group of Companies.
Miller was born as Lawrence Horne West to Mary Lorille Horne and Howard Hanley West. His parents divorced in 1946, and in June 1948 his mother married Frank Soren Miller. Larry was legally adopted by his stepfather in September 1949, and his last name was changed to Miller.
Following his graduation from West High School, Miller was employed in construction by his uncle William Reid Horne until 1964, when he went to work for American Auto Parts. Softball and drag racing, two of his interests, helped launch his careers in sports and automobiles. From 1963 to 1970, Miller raced cars, and from 1962 to 1985 he was an outstanding fast-pitch softball player, pitching in the Salt Lake City Metro League and the Denver Metro League.
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Larry Harris
Larry Harris served as the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks from 2003 until March 19, 2008. He is currently an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors.
Harris is the son of former National Basketball Association (NBA) coach Del Harris. Harris was promoted through the ranks of the Bucks personnel department over the course of his career, and was chosen by Bucks owner Herb Kohl to succeed departing GM Ernie Grunfeld in 2003. Harris' most notable moves included the drafting of Australian center Andrew Bogut with the first pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, re-signing star guard Michael Redd, and drafting Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian with the 2007 NBA Draft's 6th overall pick, despite attempts by Yi's handlers to prevent such a scenario. Harris played four years of college basketball for the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds, where he graduated with a degree in mathematics. Harris and his ex-wife JoLayne have two children, Zachary and Janaya.
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Larry Krystkowiak
Larry Brett Krystkowiak ( /krɨsˈkoʊviæk/ kris-KOH-vee-ak; born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, and current head coach of the Utah Utes men's basketball team. His nicknames include Krysko and Special K. He was born in Missoula, Montana but grew up primarily in Shelby, Montana, but finished his high school career at Big Sky High School in Missoula.
Krystkowiak played college basketball for the University of Montana from 1982 to 1986 and still holds the school records for career points scored (2,017) and rebounds (1,105). He is the only person to have been named Big Sky Conference MVP three times (1984–1986).
Krystkowiak was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 2nd round (28th overall pick) of the 1986 NBA Draft. He played power forward for nine seasons in the NBA, spending the bulk of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks. He also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. In the 1988–89 season he averaged 12.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and over 30 minutes per game for the Bucks. Over his NBA career, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.
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Leland Yee
Leland Yee (Chinese: 余胤良; pinyin: Yú Yìnliáng, born November 20, 1948) is a California State Senator in District 8 which represents the western half of San Francisco and most of San Mateo County. Prior to becoming state senator, Yee was a California State Assemblyman, Supervisor of San Francisco's Sunset District, and was a member and President of the San Francisco School Board. In 2004 Yee became the first Asian American to be appointed Speaker pro Tempore, making him the second highest ranking Democrat of the California State Assembly.
Leland Yee immigrated to San Francisco from Taishan,Guangdong, China when he was three years old and later became a naturalized United States citizen. His father served in the U.S. Army and the Merchant Marines. Yee attended San Francisco's Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School and earned a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, a master's from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the University of Hawaii.
After obtaining his PhD in Child Psychology, Yee worked as a therapist in the Mental Health Department of San Francisco, the Oakland School District and with Asian American for Community Involvement, a non-profit that serves low-income people.
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Les Aspin
Leslie "Les" Aspin, Jr. (July 21, 1938 – May 21, 1995) was a United States Representative from 1971 to 1993, and the United States Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton from January 21, 1993 to February 3, 1994.
Aspin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Shorewood High School. He attended Yale University, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, and graduated summa cum laude in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. In 1962, he received his Master of Arts in economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and his Ph.D in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966.
As an officer in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, he served as a systems analyst in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, serving in the Office of Systems Analysis. Before his election as a Democrat to Congress in 1970, Aspin had been active in Wisconsin politics and had taught economics at Marquette University.
Aspin ran as a peace candidate in 1970, opposing the Vietnam War. In the Democratic primary he was opposed by Doug LaFollette, who was endorsed by the party. After losing the initial count by a few dozen votes, he demanded a recount and won the primary, by a few dozen votes. In the general election he defeated the incumbent, Henry Schadeberg.
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Leslie Alexander
Leslie Lee Alexander (born 1943) is a former stock trader from New Jersey who owns the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Houston Rockets. He started trading options and bonds for a Wall Street firm before he broke off to form his own investment company, The Alexander Group, in 1980. He also owns a 20% stake in First Marblehead, a private student loan company.
Alexander graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1965 and later earned his juris doctor from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. From 1978 to 2009, Alexander was a member of the California State Bar. Alexander took control of the Houston Rockets in July 1993. A new stadium, the Toyota Center, was opened in 2003. He was named the best owner in the NBA by Forbes in 2008. He also owns a vineyard in Long Island and the related company Leslie Wine, launched in 2008, he also lives in Houston.
In 1998, Alexander attempted to purchase and relocate the National Hockey League's storied Edmonton Oilers franchise, but a grassroots bid by local businessmen successfully prevented the sale.
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Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is the senior United States Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the United States Representative for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district.
Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, where his parents, Millie and Florence James Graham, ran a liquor store, the Sanitary Cafe. After graduating from D. W. Daniel High School, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. When he was 21 his mother died, and his father died 15 months later. Because his sister was left orphaned, the service allowed Graham to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia so he could be near home and care for his sister, whom he adopted. During his studies, he became a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi.
Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Psychology in 1977 and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a J.D. in 1981. Upon graduating, Graham was commissioned as an officer and judge advocate in the United States Air Force, placed on active duty and sent to Europe as a military prosecutor. He eventually entered private practice as a lawyer.
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Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski (born May 22, 1957) is the senior United States Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She was appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski. After losing a Republican primary in 2010, she became the second person ever to win a U.S. Senate election through write-in votes.
Born in Ketchikan, Alaska, she is the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski. She graduated from Georgetown University and received her law degree from Willamette University College of Law. After working as an attorney in the 1980s and 1990s, she was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1998. Shortly after being elected House Majority Leader in 2002, she was appointed to the United States Senate by her father.
Murkowski was elected to a full term in 2004. Her 2010 re-election grew turbulent when former magistrate judge Joe Miller defeated her in the Republican primary. Murkowski mounted a write-in campaign, winning the general election. The long-shot campaign made national headlines: the only other Senate candidate to win a write-in vote was Strom Thurmond in 1954. Murkowski is the only current Republican Senator from any West Coast state. Since winning re-election, her voting record has become more moderate when compared to her previous years in the Senate.
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Maloof family
The Maloof family owns numerous business properties in the Western United States. The origin of the family name is Maalouf and is of Lebanese descent; the family is Lebanese via their paternal grandfather. Originally from New Mexico, the Maloof's success really began with the distributing rights of Coors Beer in the Southwest region of the US in 1937. It was from this highly successful distribution service that the family was able to expand their "empire" . The Maloofs are the owners of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA (and their home stadium, Power Balance Pavilion, formerly known as ARCO Arena). The family consists of George J. Maloof, Sr., his wife Colleen, and their children: Adrienne Maloof-Nassif, Joe Maloof, Gavin Maloof, George J. Maloof, Jr., and Phil Maloof.
The family owns a sports franchise in the Sacramento, California market—the NBA's Sacramento Kings. They acquired a minority interest in the Kings in 1998 and took majority control the following year, with Joe and Gavin operating the franchise. As part of the purchase of the Kings, they also acquired the team's sister franchise in the WNBA, the Sacramento Monarchs. The Maloofs operated the Monarchs until 2009, when the WNBA was unable to find a new owner and the team folded.
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Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is the junior United States Senator from Florida, serving since January 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (2007–2009).
Born to Cuban immigrants, Rubio was raised in Miami, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended Tarkio College and Santa Fe Community College before graduating from the University of Florida. He earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996 while interning for U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. In the late 1990s he served as a City Commissioner for West Miami. Rubio was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000, representing the 111th House district. He was elected Speaker in November 2006.
Rubio announced a run for U.S. Senate in May 2009 after incumbent Republican Mel Martinez resigned. Initially trailing by double-digits against the incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Crist, Rubio eventually surpassed him in polling for the Republican nomination. Rubio won the Republican nomination after Crist opted instead for an independent run. In a three-way split against Crist and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek, Rubio won the general election in November 2010 by a 19-point margin.
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Maria Cantwell
Maria E. Cantwell (born October 13, 1958) is the junior United States Senator from the state of Washington and a member of the Democratic Party.
She previously served in the Washington House of Representatives, and then in the United States House of Representatives from Washington's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1995, after which she worked as an executive for RealNetworks. She is Washington's second female senator, after Patty Murray.
Cantwell was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was raised in a predominantly Irish-American neighborhood on the south side of Indianapolis. Her father, Paul F. Cantwell, served as county commissioner, city councilman, state legislator, and Chief of Staff for U.S. Representative Andrew Jacobs, Jr. Her mother, Rose M., was an administrative assistant. Her ancestry includes Irish and German.
She attended Emmerich Manual High School and was inducted into the Indianapolis Public School Hall of Fame in 2006. After high school, Cantwell went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration. She moved to Seattle, Washington in 1983 to campaign for Alan Cranston in his unsuccessful bid for the 1984 Democratic Presidential nomination. She then moved to the Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace because it reminded her of Indianapolis, and led a successful campaign to build a new library there.
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Mark Andrew Green
Mark Andrew Green (born June 1, 1960) is an American politician and a former United States Ambassador to Tanzania, a position he held from August 2007 until January 2009. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, representing Wisconsin's 8th congressional district. His term ended in January 2007 when he did not seek re-election, opting to run for Governor of Wisconsin.
He currently serves as Senior Director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Green was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His family moved often, and as a child he lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, Cincinnati, Ohio, England, South Africa and Australia. He attended Abbot Pennings High School (now Notre Dame Academy) in De Pere, Wisconsin.
Green graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire in 1983. In 1987, he received a Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In law school, he served as a managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Review and won the Justice Robert Jackson Award from the Washington, D.C. Foreign Law Society for "Best Published Student Writing on a Foreign Law Subject." Following graduation from law school, Green joined the law firm Godfrey & Kahn S.C. at their Green Bay offices. In 1992, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, where he served for six years and rose to the position of chairman of the Republican Caucus.
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Mark Begich
Mark Peter Begich ( /ˈbɛɡɪtʃ/; born March 30, 1962) is the junior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Democratic Party. A former mayor of Anchorage, he served on the Anchorage Assembly for almost ten years prior to being elected mayor in 2003. In the highly competitive 2008 Alaska Senate election, Begich defeated incumbent Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican member of the Senate of all time.
Born in Anchorage, he is the son of U.S. Representative Nick Begich, who disappeared and was presumed dead following a 1972 plane crash. He graduated from high school and has taken continuing education classes at University of Alaska Anchorage, but does not have a college degree. At age 26 he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly. After serving as chairman for three years, he left the Assembly in 1998. Begich ran two unsuccessful campaigns for mayor in 1994 and 2000. He was finally elected in 2003, winning a narrow three-way race by 11 votes.
Begich handily won the Democratic nomination in the state's 2008 U.S. Senate election. He faced longtime incumbent Republican Ted Stevens, who was facing ethics and corruption charges during his re-election campaign. Stevens was convicted of felony violations a week before the election, (all charges were later dismissed, and conviction was set aside by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, due to prosecutorial misconduct). The controversy before the election was enough to cause doubt and Begich won by a narrow margin.
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Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American business magnate. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks,Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet. He is also a "shark" investor on the television series Shark Tank. In 2011, Cuban wrote an e-book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, in which he chronicles his life experiences in business and sports.
Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, in a Jewish working-class family. His last name was shortened from "Chabenisky" when his Russian grandparents landed on Ellis Island. Cuban's father Norton was an automobile upholsterer. Cuban's first step into the business world occurred at age 12, when he sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of expensive basketball shoes. While in school, he held a variety of jobs, including bartender, disco dancing instructor, and party promoter. He paid for college by collecting and selling stamps, and once gained about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.
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Mark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk (born September 15, 1959) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district.
Born in Champaign, Illinois, he graduated from Cornell University, London School of Economics, and Georgetown University Law Center. He practiced law throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He joined the United States Navy Reserve in 1989 and was recalled to active duty for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He participated in Operation Northern Watch in Iraq the following year. He remains a member of the Navy Reserve, now holding the rank of Commander.
Kirk was elected to the House in 2000. During his fifth term in November 2010 he won two concurrent elections: to finish the final months of former Senator Barack Obama's term and to serve the next six-year term. He was sworn in on November 29, 2010, and then began a six-year Senate term in January 2011.
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Mark Neumann
Mark W. Neumann (born February 27, 1954) is a businessman and politician. He represented Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 1999. In 2010, Neumann lost a bid to become the Republican nominee for Governor of Wisconsin. Neumann is currently a candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin to succeed Herb Kohl who is retiring.
Neumann was born in East Troy, Wisconsin, the son of Stella and Kurt, and one of five children. His father was an electrical engineer for General Motors and his mother was an executive assistant. Neumann graduated from East Troy High School in 1972. After High School, Neumann briefly attended General Motors Institute (now Kettering University)
In 1973, Neumann married Sue Link, his high school sweetheart, whom he met in Sunday school in the 4th grade. That same year, Neumann enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he graduated with honors in 1975, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. After graduating from Whitewater, Neumann moved to River Falls, Wisconsin, where he taught mathematics at River Falls High School while attending the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, earning a Masters of Science in Supervision and Instructional Leadership. Neumann also did additional post-graduate work at the University of Wisconsin.
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Mark Pryor
Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is the senior United States Senator from Arkansas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former Attorney General of Arkansas.
Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Pryor is the son of former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor. He received his bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He worked in private practice for several years until being elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1990. He was elected the state Attorney General in 1998. Pryor announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2001, running for the same Senate seat his father had held from 1979 to 1997. He was elected with 54 percent of the vote.
Pryor was a member of the bipartisan Gang of 14 formed in 2005 to forge a compromise on the use of the Senate filibuster. He was re-elected with no Republican opposition in 2008. In January 2009 he briefly became the youngest member of the Senate, the oldest "youngest member" of the Senate ever to serve. In the 112th Congress he is the chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance.
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Mark Udall
Mark Emery Udall (born July 18, 1950) is the senior United States Senator from Colorado and a member of the Democratic Party. From 1999 to 2009, Udall served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Colorado's 2nd congressional district. He also served a term in the Colorado House of Representatives.
Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is the son of former U.S. Representative Morris "Mo" Udall. The Udall family is one of America's more prolific political families. Mark Udall graduated from Williams College in 1972 and moved to Colorado. He worked at the Colorado Outward Bound School for 20 years, including ten years as the school's executive director. He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1996. After one term he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served five terms and worked on energy and national resources.
Udall won a competitive election for the U.S. Senate in 2008, defeating Republican challenger Bob Schaffer. He chairs the Senate Energy Subcommittee on National Parks. Udall is a prolific mountaineer and was featured in Men's Journal magazine for his athletic abilities.
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Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American politician and businessman, currently serving as the junior United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of the Forward Together PAC. Warner delivered the keynote address before the nation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Mark Warner's experience as a congressional staffer and Democratic Party fundraiser in the 1980s prompted his involvement in telecommunications venture capital; he founded the firm Columbia Capital.
In 2006 he was widely expected to pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections; however, he announced in October 2006 that he would not run, citing a desire not to disrupt his family life. Warner was considered to be a potential vice presidential candidate, but upon receiving the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, he announced that he "will not accept any other opportunity." He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Jim Webb retires from the Senate in January 2013.
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Mary Landrieu
Mary Loretta Landrieu ( /ˈlændruː/ LAN-drew; born November 23, 1955) is the senior United States Senator from the State of Louisiana and a member of the Democratic Party.
Born in Arlington, Virginia, Landrieu was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the daughter of former New Orleans mayor and Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Moon Landrieu, and the sister of the current Mayor of New Orleans and former Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana Mitch Landrieu. She received her baccalaureate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. After working as a real estate agent for several years, she was elected as a state representative (1980–1988) and state treasurer (1988–1996). She won a close race for the U.S. Senate in 1996; she was re-elected by increasing margins in competitive races in 2002 and 2008.
Landrieu is one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, often opposing her party's positions. Her opposition to the public option played a major role in the crafting of the health insurance reform bills of 2010. She became a spokeswoman for federal emergency relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which devastated her state. She chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In 2005, she sponsored an unprecedented Senate resolution by which the US Senate apologized for its failure to enact anti-lynching legislation during the early 20th century, when it was very much needed.
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Matthew H. Carpenter
Matthew Hale Carpenter (born Decatur Merritt Hammond Carpenter; December 22, 1824 – February 24, 1881), was a member of the Republican Party who served in the United States Senate for the state of Wisconsin from 1869–1875 and again from 1879–1881.
Carpenter was born in Moretown, Vermont. He served as District Attorney of Rock County, Wisconsin, from 1850 to 1854. He was originally a member of the Democratic Party until the start of the Civil War. While in the United States Senate, he served as the President pro tempore during the 43rd Congress. Carpenter died in Washington, D.C., while in office and was buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Max Baucus
Max Sieben Baucus (born December 11, 1941) is the senior United States Senator from Montana and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1978, he is the longest-serving Senator from Montana, and the fifth longest-serving U.S. Senator in office.
As the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Baucus has played an influential role in the debate over health care reform in the United States. He is also chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, and a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and is chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Before his election to the Senate, Baucus was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1978, representing Montana's (now defunct) 1st congressional district. He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives from 1973 to 1974.
On August 9, 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appointed Baucus to the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
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Michael Atkinson
Michael John Atkinson (born 17 June 1958), an Australian politician, was the South Australian Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs in the Rann Labor Government. A day after the 2010 election, he stepped down as Attorney-General and resigned from the Cabinet. He will continue to represent the electorate of Croydon in the South Australian House of Assembly until the 2014 election.
Atkinson attended Glenelg Primary School and Unley High School. He then studied at the Australian National University and received a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in history and also a Bachelor of Laws degree.
He worked as a sub-editor and journalist for the Adelaide Advertiser from 1982 to 1985, an adviser and press secretary to federal minister Chris Hurford from 1985 to 1987, before becoming an advocate for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association in 1989.
On 20 November 2009 he was awarded the 2009 Friend of the Armenian-Australian Community Award by the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
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Michael Heisley
Michael E. Heisley (born March 13, 1937) is an American businessman who is the majority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. He orchestrated the move of the team from Vancouver in 2001, after promising to keep the franchise in Vancouver when he purchased it in 2000. He agreed in 2006 to sell his 70% controlling stake in the Grizzlies to a consortium including Christian Laettner and Brian Davis, but the group missed a deadline for the purchase and Heisley found no other bidder willing to meet the team's $300M asking price.
Heisley, a computer salesman by background, was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and has residences in Chicago, Illinois, and Jupiter Island, Florida. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, and is married with five children. He has appeared several times on the Forbes rich list.
Heisley is also involved in multiple business ventures, such as:
A computer salesman by trade, he used $150,000 from selling his home and $10 million in bank loans to acquire Conco, maker of sewer and drain equipment. Later Heisley expanded his holdings through the purchase of several near-bankrupt Rust Belt manufacturers. As of 2009, Heico operates 40 companies, largely in steel, construction, and equipment.
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Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
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Micky Arison
Micky Arison (born June 29, 1949) is an Israeli-American businessman. He is Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise operator, and owner of the NBA's Miami Heat.
Micky Arison is the son of Ted Arison, co-founder of the Carnival Corporation, with Meshulam Riklis. His sister is Shari Arison. He resides in Bal Harbour, Florida but also has homes in New York and Israel. Arison owns a 200 foot yacht which he also uses as a home. He attended University of Miami but dropped out.
In 2011, Forbes magazine calculated Arison's wealth at $5.9 billion, making him the 169th wealthiest person in the world. In 2009, he earned $7,201,110, which included a base salary of $880,000, a cash bonus of $2,206,116, stocks granted of $3,618,481, and other compensation totaling $496,513.
In 2012 Micky Arison was criticized for failing to take responsibility for the Concordia cruise ship disaster in which 32 people were killed.
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Mike Crapo
Michael Dean "Mike" Crapo ( /ˈkreɪpoʊ/ KRAY-poh; born May 20, 1951) is the senior United States Senator from the state of Idaho and a member of the Republican Party.
Born in the city of Idaho Falls, Crapo is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in his home city throughout the 1980s, while maintaining an active role in local Republican politics. His brother Terry Crapo was majority leader in the Idaho House of Representatives and a growing political figure until his death from leukemia in 1982. Mike Crapo, prompted by his brother's death, successfully ran for the Idaho Senate in 1984. He became Senate President pro tempore from 1988 to 1992, in which position he served as Acting Governor of Idaho for 12 hours in January 1989.
Crapo was elected to Congress in 1992, representing Idaho's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. After three terms in the House he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998. He was re-elected with no Democratic opposition in the 2004 election, a rarity in the Senate. He was again re-elected in 2010.
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Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
Michael Joseph Dunleavy (born March 21, 1954) is a retired American professional basketball player, former head coach, and former general manager of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers. He is the father of Milwaukee Bucks player Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
Dunleavy was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Nazareth Regional High School in Brooklyn, then graduated from the University of South Carolina, where he played under coach Frank McGuire. Drafted in the sixth round of the 1976 NBA Draft with the 99th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers, the 6'2" guard played for them for one full season along with Hall-of-Fame teammate Julius Erving and made the Finals in a losing effort againtst the Portland Trail Blazers. Dunleavy then split the following season between Philadelphia and the Houston Rockets after being traded, and soon made the Finals once again, but yet again his team lost, this time to the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird.
Dunleavy remained in Texas after leaving Houston for the 1982-83 season, because he spent that season with the neighboring San Antonio Spurs. After two following seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks he retired due to chronic back pain. His best season as a player was with Houston in 1980-81, when he averaged 10.5 points per game and started on a team that played in the NBA Finals.
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Mike Enzi
Michael Bradley "Mike" Enzi (/ˈɛnzi/; born February 1, 1944) is the senior United States Senator from Wyoming (serving since 1997) and a member of the Republican Party.
Raised in Thermopolis, Wyoming, Enzi attended George Washington University and the University of Denver. He expanded his father's shoe store business in Gillette before being elected mayor of Gillette in 1974. In the late 1970s he worked in the United States Department of the Interior. He served as a state legislator in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1987–1991) and the Wyoming Senate (1991–1996). During the 1980s and 1990s he worked as an accountant and executive director in the energy industry.
Enzi won a tight primary for election to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was re-elected by comfortable margins in 2002 and 2008. He has been ranked as one of the most conservative members of the Senate. He is the ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which he chaired from 2005 to 2007. He was a member of the 2009 Gang of Six which attempted to negotiate a health care reform program.
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Mike Johanns
Michael Owen "Mike" Johanns (born June 18, 1950) is an Republican American politician who has been the junior United States Senator from Nebraska since 2009. Previously he was the 38th Governor of Nebraska from 1999 to 2005 and was United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2005 to 2007, becoming the fourth Nebraskan to hold the position. On November 4, 2008, Johanns was elected to the United States Senate for the state of Nebraska, becoming one of only two new Republican senators (with Jim Risch of Idaho) heading into the 111th United States Congress. In 2002 Johanns served as a Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association. He is expected to become Nebraska's senior senator upon the conclusion of retiring Senator Ben Nelson's term in January of 2013.
Johanns was born in Osage, Iowa, the son of Adeline Lucy (née Royek) and John Robert Johanns. His father was of German ancestry, and his maternal grandparents immigrated from Poland. He grew up living and working on his family's farm. After graduating from high school, Johanns went on to study at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in Winona. He earned a law degree from Creighton University. After his graduation, Johanns began practicing law in O'Neill and Lincoln, Nebraska.
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Mikhail Prokhorov
Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov (Russian: Михаил Дмитриевич Прóхоров; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian billionaire and owner of the American basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia's leading industrialists in the precious metals sector. While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is the former chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and former President of ONEXIM Group. He resigned both positions when he entered politics in June 2011.
In December 2011, Prokhorov capped a year of higher-profile political activity in Russia with the December declaration that he would run as an independent in the 2012 presidential elections. Russian prime minister and former president Vladimir Putin was the favorite in the race at the time of Prokhorov's announcement.
He is the seventh richest man from Russia and the 57th richest man in the world according to the 2012 Forbes listing with a fortune estimated at US$13.2 billion.
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Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. (born February 20, 1942), a Republican American, is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky and the Minority Leader. He is the longest serving U.S. Senator in Kentucky history.
McConnell was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama to Julia (née Shockley) and Addison Mitchell McConnell.
McConnell was raised in southern Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended the duPont Manual High School, and in 1964 he graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in political science. He was student body president and a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. McConnell has maintained strong ties to his alma mater, and "remains a rabid fan of its sports teams." He graduated in 1967 from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association.
McConnell became a member of the 100th Division (Training), U.S. Army Reserve, in Louisville, Kentucky, during his final semester of law school; and he reported for his six months of active service, primarily for training, in July 1967. After induction at Fort Knox, Kentucky, McConnell was released early from his active-duty military service in August 1967. McConnell received a medical discharge for optic neuritis, which is a common manifestation of multiple sclerosis.
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Moses Malone
Moses Eugene Malone (born March 23, 1955 in Petersburg, Virginia) is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association. A three-time NBA MVP and one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, Malone was the most successful prep-to-pro player of his era, going straight from Petersburg High to a 21-year career in professional basketball. By the time Malone retired after 19 seasons in the NBA he was the last former ABA player active and held numerous distinctions in both leagues, including a championship ring and NBA finals trophy won with the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.
Right after graduating from Petersburg High School, Malone signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Maryland. However, Malone was drafted by the ABA's Utah Stars in 1974 and became one of the first basketball players to jump straight from high school into the professional leagues.
Malone began his professional career with the Utah Stars. He later played for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis. In two seasons in the ABA, Malone averaged 17.2 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. Malone's ABA career ended with the ABA–NBA merger in June 1976, when Malone moved to the NBA.
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Nate Archibald
Nathaniel "Tiny" Archibald (born September 2, 1948, New York City) is a retired American professional basketball player. He spent 14 years playing in the NBA, most notably with the Kansas City Kings and Boston Celtics.
Archibald was a willing passer and an adequate shooter from midrange. However, it was his quickness and speed and shiftiness that made him difficult to guard in the open court, as he would regularly drive past defenders on his way to the basket.
Archibald, a playground legend while growing up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in the South Bronx, New York City, only played high school basketball for one-and-a-half seasons, and was cut from the varsity squad at DeWitt Clinton High School as a sophomore. He returned to the team as a junior. During his time without basketball, Archibald briefly flirted with dropping out of school after having been largely truant in past years. But with the help of two mentors, Floyd Layne and Pablo Robertson, Archibald turned it around. Robertson, a former standout at Loyola of Chicago and a Harlem, NY, playground impressario, had seen the gifted, mercurial Archibald in action on the playgrounds and convinced the young man's high school coach to re-instate him on the squad. Despite only playing in blowouts as a junior, the shy, quiet teen managed to blossom into a high-school star, being named team captain and an All-City selection in 1966. Off the court, Archibald began to attend school regularly and worked to improve his poor academic standing, which deterred most colleges from offering him a scholarship. To improve his chances of playing major college basketball, Archibald enrolled at Arizona Western College, transferring to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) the following year. He had three standout seasons at El Paso, from 1967 to 1970 under the legendary coach Don Haskins.
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Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe (née Bouchles; born February 21, 1947) is the senior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes, including whether to end filibusters. She and her fellow Senator from Maine, Susan Collins, are regarded as leading moderates within their party. In 2006, she was named one of America's Best Senators by Time Magazine. On February 28, 2012, Snowe announced that she will not seek reelection in November 2012, and will retire when her third term ends on January 3, 2013.
Snowe was born Olympia Jean Bouchles in Augusta, Maine, the daughter of Georgia (née Goranites) and George John Bouchles. Her father immigrated to the United States from Sparta in Greece, and her maternal grandparents were also Greek. She is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Snowe's early life had its share of tragedies; when she was nine, her mother died of breast cancer, and her father died of heart disease barely a year later. Orphaned, she was moved to Auburn, Maine, to be raised by her aunt and uncle, a textile mill worker and a barber, respectively, along with their five other children. Her brother John was raised separately, by other family members. Within a few years, disease would also claim her uncle's life.
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Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938 in Charlotte, Tennessee), nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American National Basketball Association player with the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Robertson played the shooting guard/point guard position, and was a twelve-time All-Star, eleven-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in fourteen professional seasons. He is the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. He was a key player on the team which brought the Bucks their only NBA title in the 1970-71 NBA season. His playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.
For his outstanding achievements, Robertson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, and was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their college Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998, and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006.
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Pat Roberts
Charles Patrick "Pat" Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he has served since 1997. He is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture and previously served as the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, Roberts is a graduate of Kansas State University. He served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a newspaper reporter before entering politics in the late 1960s. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 to succeed 1st District Congressman Keith Sebelius, for whom he had worked. He served eight terms in the House, including one as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
Roberts was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, and is currently serving his third term. He has a conservative voting record. On the Intelligence Committee he was responsible for an investigation into the intelligence failures prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He led the creation of the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program in 2004.
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Patrick Leahy
Patrick Joseph Leahy (/ˈleɪhiː/; born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator, and second longest-serving Democrat in the U.S. Senate having served since 1975.
Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, the son of Alba (née Zambon) and Howard Francis Leahy, a printer. His grandparents came to Vermont from Ireland and Italy during the 19th century to work at quarries.
Leahy graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1961 and received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1964. He practiced as a lawyer until he was elected as State's Attorney of Chittenden County in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. Leahy was elected to the United States Senate for the first time in 1974 (at 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected by Vermont). Leahy was the first and remains the only Democrat elected to the Senate from Vermont. He was also the first non-Republican Senator from Vermont since 1856.
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Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an American investor and philanthropist best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, a leading developer of personal-computer software systems and applications. He is also the 48th richest person in the world along with Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco (and family) who ranks the same with an estimated wealth of $14.2 billion as of March 2012.. He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which manages his business and philanthropic efforts. Allen also has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio which includes technology companies, real estate holdings, and stakes in other technology, media, and content companies. Allen also owns two professional sports teams, the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), and the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also part-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, which joined Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2009. Allen's memoir Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft was released on April 19, 2011.
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Paul O. Husting
Paul Oscar Adolph Husting (April 25, 1866 – October 21, 1917) was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Wisconsin in the United States Senate from 1915 to 1917.
He was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin of Luxembourgish and Metis ancestry and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School. His grandfather, Solomon Juneau, was Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He began his political career as an attorney and served as the district attorney of Dodge County from 1902 to 1906, and in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1907 to 1913. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1914 and served in the Senate from 1915 until his death. He was chairman of the Committee on Fisheries during 1917 and chairman of a committee investigating trespasses on Indian lands during his entire time in the Senate.
He was killed in a duck hunting accident on Rush Lake near Pickett, Wisconsin, the only United States senator known to have been killed this way. According to the New York Times, while rising in a row boat after telling him to fire, the Senator's brother Gustave shot him accidentally in the back. He died later in the day. He is interred at the Graceland Cemetery in Mayville, Wisconsin.
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Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party, and has been ranked among the party's most influential voices on economic policy.
Born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan graduated from Miami University in Ohio and later worked as a marketing consultant for Ryan Incorporated Central, run by a branch of his family. In the mid to late 1990s, he worked as an aide to United States Senator Bob Kasten, as legislative director for Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, and as a speechwriter for former U.S. Representative and 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp of New York. In 1998, Ryan won election to the United States House of Representatives, succeeding the two-term incumbent, fellow Republican Mark Neumann.
Ryan currently chairs the House Budget Committee, where he has played a prominent public role in drafting and promoting the Republican Party's long-term budget proposal. He introduced a plan, The Path to Prosperity, in April 2011 as an alternative to the budget proposal of President Barack Obama, and helped introduce The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal in March 2012, in response to Obama's 2013 budget. Ryan is one of the three co-founders of the Young Guns Program, an electoral recruitment and campaign effort by House Republicans. He endorsed Republican presidential candidate and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney for the 2012 United States presidential election. Ryan has been considered as a possible running mate for Romney.
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Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American film producer and executive and Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Films he personally produced or executive produced include Rain Man, Batman, The Color Purple, Midnight Express, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, The Witches of Eastwick, Missing and Flashdance. Guber's films have earned over $3 billion worldwide and 50 Academy Award nominations. Guber is also a minority owner of two professional sports teams: the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball.
Peter Guber's parents Sam Guber and Ruth Anshen, of Jewish descent, married in 1929. Peter's father owned a junk business in Somerville, Massachusetts. As a child, Guber was noted for his intelligence, outgoing nature, high energy, aggressiveness, and extreme competitiveness. He attended John Ward Elementary School and Newton North High School.
Following high school graduation, Guber enrolled in the pre-law curriculum at Syracuse University. He played intramural football and pledged the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Guber spent his junior year abroad at Syracuse's Florence, Italy campus. At Syracuse he met his future wife, Lynda Gellis, the daughter of a kosher meat magnate and the "self-styled queen" of her sorority.
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Peter W. Barca
Peter Barca (born August 7, 1955) is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the current Representative for the 64th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly. He is a lifelong resident of the Kenosha area.
Barca has served as a State Representative on two separate occasions from 1985–1993, and 2009–present. He also served as a member of the U.S. Congress between 1993–1995, and the Midwest Regional Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
After a landslide victory in his re-election campaign in 2010, Rep. Barca was elected by his colleagues to serve as Assembly Democratic Leader in the 100th Wisconsin Legislative Session.
Representative Barca was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 7, 1955 and spent his entire youth in the Kenosha area. He graduated from Mary D. Bradford High School in 1973 and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He attended Harvard Graduate School and went on to earn an M.A. in public administration and educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983.
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Philetus Sawyer
Philetus Sawyer (September 22, 1816 – March 29, 1900) was an American politician of the Republican Party who represented Wisconsin in both houses of Congress. Sawyer County, Wisconsin, is named for him.
Philetus Sawyer was born in 1816 in Whiting, Vermont, and moved to Crown Point, New York, as an infant in 1817. He moved to Wisconsin in 1847 and worked in the lumber industry. Sawyer's early political career included serving in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1857 and 1861, and as mayor of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from 1863 to 1864. He ran for and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1864 and served for ten years from 1865 until 1875; he did not run for reelection in 1874. Sawyer returned to Congress in 1881 as a U.S. Senator. He served two terms from 1881 to 1893 and did not seek a third. However, he became notorious for a charge made against him by Congressman Robert La Follette that he had attempted to bribe La Follette. Sawyer died in 1900 in Oshkosh at age 83. He was interred at a family mausoleum at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh.
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Rand Paul
Randal Howard "Rand" Paul (born January 7, 1963) is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" and a libertarian. He is the son of Republican Congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas and had never previously held political office. Paul first received national attention in 2008 when making political speeches on behalf of his father. Rand Paul is the first United States Senator in history to serve alongside a parent in the United States House of Representatives.
A graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine, Paul has been a practicing ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since 1993, and established his own clinic in December 2007. In 1994, he founded Kentucky Taxpayers United, of which he is still the chairman.
In 2010, Paul ran as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky and defeated Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. As a supporter of the Tea Party movement, Paul has been vocal in advocating for term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and the Read the Bills Act, in addition to the widespread reduction of federal spending and taxation. He has gained prominence for his independent positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republicans and Democrats.
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Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal (born February 13, 1946) is the junior United States Senator from Connecticut and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Blumenthal is a graduate of Harvard College, where he was editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson. He studied for a year at Cambridge University in England before attending Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. While at Yale, he was a classmate of future President Bill Clinton and future Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. From 1970 to 1976 Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, where he earned the rank of sergeant.
After college Blumenthal served as administrative assistant and law clerk for several Washington figures. From 1977 to 1981 he was United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. In the early 1980s he worked in private law, including volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987, when he was elected to the Connecticut Senate. He was elected state Attorney General in 1990, and served for twenty years. During this period he was frequently speculated as a contender for Governor of Connecticut, but he never pursued the office.
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Richard Burr
Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American politician who has served as a United States Senator from North Carolina since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr previously represented North Carolina's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2005.
As Senator, Burr has had a non-controversial tenure so far, espousing most of the Republican Party's expected positions, from general support for President George W. Bush's actions in Iraq to abortion opposition. Strikingly, however, he voted to repeal the military's employment discrimination policy against gays. In October he announced his intention to seek the post of minority whip, the number two Republican position in the Senate.
Burr is the son of a minister. He has children with Brooke, his wife of 27 years. He is distant kin of former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.
Burr was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Martha (née Gillum) and Rev. David Horace White Burr, a minister. He graduated from Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1974 and earned a B.A. from Wake Forest University in 1978. Burr was on the football team at both Reynolds High School and Wake Forest. Burr lettered for the Demon Deacons during the 1974 and 1975 seasons; however, the team went winless in ACC play during his tenure. He is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
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Richard DeVos
Richard DeVos, Sr. (born March 4, 1926, Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an American businessman, co-founder of Amway along with Jay Van Andel (company restructured as Alticor in 2000), and owner of the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team. In 2011, Forbes magazine listed him as the 79th wealthiest person in the United States, and the 254th richest in the world, with an estimated net worth of USD$ 4.2 billion. (At one point, he was in the top 10 of wealthiest Americans).
DeVos was educated at Calvin College and is a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He served in the military in World War II in the United States Army Air Corps.
Books written by him include Compassionate Capitalism, "MOO", and Hope From My Heart: Ten Lessons For Life. The latter reflects his feelings after successfully undergoing a heart transplant operation in 1997. This was preceded by two heart-bypass operations in 1983 and 1992. In 1975, DeVos published a book about his success, co-authored with Charles Paul Conn, titled Believe!.
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Richard Lugar
Richard Green "Dick" Lugar (born April 4, 1932) is the senior United States Senator from Indiana and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1976, he is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and was its chairman from 1985 to 1987 and 2003 to 2007. Much of Lugar's work in the Senate is toward the dismantling of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons around the world. Before his election to the United States Senate, Lugar served as mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Lugar is currently the third most senior senator, behind only Daniel Inouye and Patrick Leahy. He is also the longest-serving Senator in Indiana's history, and is the most senior Republican member of the Senate. In 2012, however, he lost the Republican primary for a seventh term and his service in the Senate will end in January 2013.
Lugar was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Bertha (née Green) and Marvin Lugar. He attended the public schools of Indianapolis. During this time he attained the Boy Scouts' highest rank: Eagle Scout. Later, he became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated first in his class at Shortridge High School in 1950 and from Denison University in 1954 where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He went on to attend Pembroke College, Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar, and received a second Bachelors and an MA degree in 1956. He served in the United States Navy from 1956 to 1960; one of his assignments was as an intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade.
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Richard Shelby
Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is the senior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Shelby received his law degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he went on to serve as city prosecutor (1963–1971). During this period he worked as a U.S. Magistrate for the Northern District of Alabama (1966–1970) and Special Assistant Attorney General of Alabama (1969–1971). He won a seat in the Alabama Senate in 1970. In 1978 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the 7th District, where he was among a group of conservative Democrats known as the boll weevils. Shelby won a tight race in 1986 for the U.S. Senate. Originally elected as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party in 1994 when Republicans gained the majority in Congress midway through President Bill Clinton's first term. He was re-elected by a large margin in 1998 and has faced no significant electoral opposition since.
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Rob Portman
Robert Jones "Rob" Portman (born December 19, 1955) is a lawyer and the junior United States Senator from Ohio. He is a member of the Republican Party. He succeeded retiring Senator George Voinovich.
From 1993 to 2005, Portman served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 2nd congressional district, which stretches along the Ohio River from the Hamilton County suburbs of Cincinnati east to Scioto County and Pike County. Portman won seven consecutive congressional elections with over 70 percent of the vote.
Portman served in two federal cabinet positions under the administration of President George W. Bush. From May 2005 to May 2006, he was the U.S. Trade Representative. From May 2006 to June 2007, he was Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He is considered a possible pick for Vice President on the Republican presidential ticket in 2012.
Portman was born in 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Joan (née Jones) and entrepreneur William C. "Bill" Portman II. His patrilineal great-grandfather, surnamed "Portmann", immigrated from Switzerland; Portman also has Scottish, Northern Irish, English, and German ancestry. When he was young, his father borrowed money to start the Portman Equipment Company, a forklift dealership where he and his siblings all worked growing up. The company grew from a small business with five employees and Joan Portman as bookkeeper to one that employed over 300 people. According to a 2010 Weekly Standard profile, Portman "developed a political philosophy grounded in entrepreneurship," having grown up "[hearing] talk about regulations, and taxes, and government getting in the way of small business" because of his early experiences with his family business.
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Robert Kastenmeier
Robert William Kastenmeier (born January 24, 1924) is a United States politician. He represented Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1991, and is a member of the Democratic Party.
Kastenmeier was born in Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin, and attended its public schools. He continued his education at Carleton College and at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he got his LL.B. in 1952, and was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Watertown, Wisconsin.
He entered the Army as a private in February 1943 and served in the Philippines. He was discharged on August 15, 1946 as a first lieutenant. Afterwards, he served in the War Department as a branch office director in the claims service in the Philippines from 1946 to 1948.
In 1955, Kastenmeier was elected to the position of Justice of the Peace for Jefferson and Dodge Counties, and he served until 1959.
On January 3, 1959, he began serving in the 86th Congress in the House of Representatives, and continued serving in fifteen succeeding terms until January 3, 1991. As a congressman, Kastenmeier was one of the managers appointed by the House in 1986 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Harry E. Claiborne, a judge of the United States District Court for Nevada.
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Robert Lorge
Robert Gerald Lorge (born in New London, Wisconsin) is an American lawyer and politician. He is Managing Partner of Lorge & Lorge Law Firm. Lorge was the 2006 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, running against the incumbent Democrat Herb Kohl. Kohl won the election with almost 70% of the vote. Lorge previously was the Republican nominee for Wisconsin Secretary of State in 2002 and was a candidate for the United States Senate in 2004.
Lorge is pro-life, opposed to gun control, and supports border protection. He opposes capital punishment.
Lorge agrees with the mainstream Republican party in that he is pro-life, anti-gun control and for border protection. However, due to his many years of practicing law, he opposes capital punishment. Lorge is credited with being the original author of the plan adopted by Democrat U. S. Senator Joe Biden's 2007 Presidential Campaign to divide Iraq into 3 to 5 provinces in order to achieve peace and stability amongst the Kurds in Kurdistan, the Sunnis in the Sunni Triangle and the Shiite majority in the south, as well as a trans-Saudi-Jordanian nation in the Anbar province region and making the Baghdad metro area into a separate state. Lorge is credited with being the first to propose 100% tax credits to fund higher education and healthcare.
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Robert Sarver
Robert Sarver (born 1961 in Tucson, Arizona) is the current majority owner of the Phoenix Suns. He bought the NBA franchise from Jerry Colangelo in the spring of 2004.
His father was Jack Sarver, a prominent Tucson businessman, banker and hotel developer (the elder Sarver built the Aztec Inn, the Plaza International Hotel (now a Four Points by Sheraton) at Speedway and Campbell in Tucson in the early 1970s, built and operated the Tucson area Howard Johnson's locations and headed a local savings and loan). Jack Sarver died of a heart attack in 1979; Robert Sarver would eventually donate to his alma mater, the University of Arizona, funds to its heart research center, which in 1998 was renamed the Sarver Heart Center in honor of his father.
After graduating from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1982, Robert Sarver founded the National Bank of Arizona (then the National Bank of Tucson) at age 23 in 1984. He sold it to Zions Bancorporation in 1994. Prior to the sale, National Bank of Arizona had become the largest independent bank in the state. In 1995 he acquired Grossmont Bank, one of San Diego's largest community banks.
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Roger Wicker
Roger Frederick Wicker (born July 5, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott. He subsequently won the 2008 special election for the remainder of the term. Wicker served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Mississippi's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2007.
Wicker was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi on July 5, 1951, the son of Wordna Glen (née Threadgill) and Frederick T. "Fred" Wicker. He served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives when he was 16.[citation needed] He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science and a law degree from the University of Mississippi where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.[citation needed]
After graduation, Wicker served as an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1980. Starting in 1980, he was a member of the Air Force Reserve; he retired from the Reserve in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel. Wicker served as a judge advocate.
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Ron Kind
Ronald James "Ron" Kind (born March 16, 1963) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the western portion of the state and is anchored by La Crosse and Eau Claire and Platteville.
Kind was born and raised in La Crosse. He is the third of five children born to Greta and Elroy Kind, and the fifth generation of his family to live in the area. Kind's mother formerly worked as the assistant director of personnel in the La Crosse School District. His father had a 35-year career as a telephone repairman and union leader at the La Crosse Telephone Company.
Kind attended the public schools in La Crosse and became a standout student athlete at Logan High School in both football and basketball. He accepted a scholarship to Harvard College where he graduated with honors in 1985. While attending Harvard, Kind played quarterback on the football team and worked during the summer with Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire in Washington. In Proxmire's office he helped investigate waste, which provided the basis for some of the senator's famous Golden Fleece Awards.
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Roy Blunt
Roy D. Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement.
Blunt served as the United States Representative from Missouri's 7th congressional district from 1997 to 2011. The district contains most of Southwest Missouri, the most conservative part of the state, anchored in the city of Springfield, as well as cities such as Joplin, Carthage, and Neosho. The popular tourist destination of Branson also lies in the district. In January 2011, Blunt was succeeded in the House by Billy Long.
Blunt was the House Minority Whip during the 110th Congress but after the 2008 general elections announced that he would step down from the position. After House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down upon criminal indictment in Texas, Blunt served as interim House Majority Leader from September 29, 2005, to February 2, 2006, when John Boehner of Ohio was elected as DeLay's permanent replacement. In 2011, Blunt was elected Vice-Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
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Russ Feingold
Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold (/ˈfaɪn.ɡoʊld/; born March 2, 1953) is a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He served as a Democratic party member of the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2011. From 1983 to 1993, Feingold was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.
He is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, and cosponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain–Feingold Act), a major piece of campaign finance reform legislation. He was the only Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act during the first vote on the legislation.
Feingold had been mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, but following the November midterm elections of 2006 he chose not to run. In 2010, Feingold lost his campaign for re-election to the US Senate to Republican Ron Johnson.
On February 17, 2011, Feingold announced he had formed a grassroots Political Action Committee Progressives United, a movement intended, among other things, to fight the controversial United States Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC.
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Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American politician who has been the 46th Governor of Kansas since January 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996 and then as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election, withdrawing before the primaries.
Sam Brownback was born in Garnett, Kansas, the son of Nancy and Glenn Robert Brownback. He was raised in a farming family in Parker, Kansas; his distant ancestors, of German descent, settled in Kansas after leaving Pennsylvania following the Civil War. Brownback was state president of the Kansas FFA Association, and was one of the national vice presidents of the National FFA Organization from 1976 to 1977. While at Kansas State University, he was elected student body president and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho. He received his J.D. from the University of Kansas in 1982.
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Saxby Chambliss
Clarence Saxby Chambliss, Jr. (born November 10, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative (1995–2003).
During his four terms in the House, Chambliss served on the United States House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which oversaw investigations of the intelligence community after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
During his 2002 bid for the U.S. Senate, Chambliss focused on the issue of national defense and homeland security. He won with 53% of the vote. For several years he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and chaired the committee during the 109th Congress (2005–2007). In the 112th Congress (2011–2012) he is the ranking Republican on the Select Committee on Intelligence. Chambliss has a conservative voting record in the Senate, but he has participated in some bipartisan legislation. In December 2011, the Washington Post named Saxby and the "Gang of Six" as one of the Best Leaders of 2011 for attempts to craft a bipartisan deficit reduction package.
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Scott Brown
Scott Philip Brown (born September 12, 1959) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. Brown previously served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court, first in the State House of Representatives (1998–2004) and then in the State Senate (2004–2010).
Brown is a member of the Republican Party, and faced the Democratic candidate, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, in the 2010 special election to succeed U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013. While initially trailing Coakley in polling by a large margin, Brown won the election and in January 2010 became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972.
Prior to entering the state legislature, he had experience as a town selectman and assessor. He is a practicing attorney, concentrating in real estate law and serving as defense counsel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Brown is a graduate of Wakefield High School (1977), Tufts University (1981), and Boston College Law School (1985).
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Scott L. Klug
Scott L. Klug (born January 16, 1953) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin, representing Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district.
Klug was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After being educated at a private Jesuit school (Marquette University High School), he attended Lawrence University from which he graduated with a B.A. in 1975. Klug received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1976. He later received an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1990. Klug was a television anchor and reporter for various stations in Seattle, Washington, Madison, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.. He also became the president of a small investment firm.
Klug was elected to Congress in 1990, defeating long-term incumbent Robert Kastenmeier, and served from January 3, 1991 until January 3, 1999. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1998, choosing to focus on his business and keep his word on his initial campaign promise of only an eight year run. He is currently a resident of Madison, Wisconsin. While in office, he was a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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Scott Skiles
Scott Allen Skiles (born March 5, 1964, in LaPorte, Indiana) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He also is the former head coach of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls. Skiles holds the NBA record for assists in one game with 30. In 1990–91 he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award.
In 1982 Skiles led Plymouth High School to the Indiana State Championship. Plymouth, with no starter taller than 6'2" and no reserve taller than 6'6", was considered to be the weakest of the final four teams in the tournament that year even though they were ranked #4 in the state with a record of 26-1 entering the state finals. Amazingly, they won the state title with a 75-74 double overtime victory over favored Gary Roosevelt. In that game Skiles scored 39 points (to follow-up his 30 point performance against Indianapolis Cathedral that morning) to lead the Pilgrims past the Roosevelt Panthers. His long 22-foot (6.7 m) field goal, that was well beyond where the current three-point line is (no three-point shot existed in 1982) as time expired sent the game into overtime. With a student body of 900, Plymouth is the smallest school to win the championship since Milan in 1954. Skiles scored 25 of his 39 points in the championship game after the third quarter of play. During the 1982 season Skiles led the state in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game. He set several records during high school, including most points in a home game (53) and most points in an away game (56). He left Plymouth as the school's all-time career scoring leader (1,788 points), a record that would stand until 2005 (Kyle Benge-1,979 points). Skiles had his number 22 jersey retired at Plymouth High School in 1992.
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Sean Duffy
Sean Duffy (born October 3, 1971) is an American politician, prosecutor, former sports commentator and reality television personality. He first entered public life as a cast member on The Real World: Boston and 2002's Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons, before going on to serve as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin and the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 7th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Sean Duffy was born in Hayward, Wisconsin, on October 3, 1971, the tenth of 11 children of Carol Ann (née Yackel) and Thomas Walter Duffy. He is of Irish, English, German, and Norwegian descent. Duffy has a marketing degree from St. Mary's University, and a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.
Duffy started log rolling at age 5 and speed climbing (sprinting up 60 and 90 foot poles) at 13. He holds two speed-climbing titles.
Duffy has been an ESPN color commentator for televised competitions and in 2003 appeared as both a competitor and commentator on ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. He was named Badger State Games Honorary Athlete of the 2004 Winter Games.
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Sheldon Whitehouse
Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is the junior United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served as United States Attorney (1994–1998) and State Attorney General for Rhode Island.
Whitehouse was born in New York City, New York, the son of Mary Celine (née Rand) and career diplomat Charles S. Whitehouse, and grandson of diplomat Sheldon Whitehouse. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and from Yale University in 1978. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982.
Whitehouse worked as a clerk for Judge Richard F. Neely of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia from 1982 to 1983. He also worked in the Rhode Island Attorney General's office as a special assistant attorney general from 1985 to 1990, chief of the Regulatory Unit (which oversaw utilities) from 1988 to 1990, and also an assistant attorney general from 1989 to 1990.
Whitehouse worked as Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun's Executive Counsel beginning in 1991, and was later tapped to serve as Director of Policy. He oversaw the state's response to the RISDIC banking crisis, which took place right after Sundlun took office. Whitehouse was appointed by Sundlun to be the state's Director of Business Regulation in 1992, where he oversaw a drastic reform in the state's workers' compensation insurance system.
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Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell Brown (born November 9, 1952) is the senior United States Senator from Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007. He previously served as the Ohio Secretary of State (1983–1991) and a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1974–1982).
Brown defeated two-term Republican incumbent Mike DeWine in the 2006 U.S. Senate election. In the U.S. Senate, he is chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms and the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, and is also a member of the Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and Select Committee on Ethics.
Brown was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the son of Emily (née Campbell) and Charles Gailey Brown, M.D. He was named after his maternal grandfather. He became an Eagle Scout in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies from Yale University in 1974. At Yale, he was in Davenport College, the same residential college as U.S. Presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush. He went on to receive a Master of Public Administration degree and a Master of Arts degree in education from the Ohio State University in Columbus in 1979 and 1981, respectively. He taught at the Mansfield branch campus of The Ohio State University from 1979 to 1981.
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Sidney Moncrief
Sidney A. Moncrief (born September 21, 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is a retired American professional basketball player. As an NCAA college basketball player from 1975–1979, Moncrief led the University of Arkansas Razorbacks trio known as "The Triplets" to the 1978 Final Four, which ended in a win in the NCAA Consolation Game versus #6 Notre Dame. Nicknamed Sid the Squid, Sir Sid, and El Sid, Moncrief went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA.
Moncrief, Marvin Delph of Conway, Arkansas, and Ron Brewer of Fort Smith, Arkansas ("The Triplets"), along with head coach Eddie Sutton and assistant coach Gene Keady, resurrected the University of Arkansas basketball program in the 1970s from decades of modest success and disinterest, and helped lay the foundation for what became one of the country's premier college basketball programs through the mid-1990s. Moncrief's leadership on the court and electrifying play renewed interest in the Razorback program, and ushered in the winning tradition in the Arkansas basketball program. His jersey was retired not long after he graduated from school and went on to the NBA, and is still the only one. Moncrief was the school's all-time leading scorer until Todd Day broke his record in 1992.
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Stan Kroenke
Enos Stanley "Stan" Kroenke (pronounced /ˈkrɒŋki/; born July 29, 1947 in Columbia, Missouri) is an American business entrepreneur. He is named after St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers Enos "Country" Slaughter and Stan "The Man" Musial. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is the daughter of Wal-Mart cofounder Bud Walton. Kroenke is also the owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which includes the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and St. Louis Rams of the NFL (the Colorado sports properties are in the name of Josh Kroenke, one of his children, to satisfy NFL ownership restrictions that forbid a team owner from owning teams in other markets). He is also the majority shareholder of English football club Arsenal. He currently lives in Columbia, Missouri. Kroenke was estimated to be worth $US 3.2 billion by Forbes in 2011.
Kroenke obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri. He founded the Kroenke Group in 1983, a real estate development firm that has constructed numerous shopping centers and apartment buildings. Since his marriage to Walton, he has been in the special position to develop many of the plazas near Wal-Mart stores. He is also the chairman of THF Realty, an independent real estate development company that specializes in suburban development. He founded this corporation in St. Louis in 1991.
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Stephen Pagliuca
Stephen Pagliuca (born January 16, 1955) is a private equity investor, managing partner of Bain Capital, and co-owner of the Boston Celtics.
In 2003, Pagliuca, along with Irving and Wyc Grousbeck, Robert Epstein, William P. Egan, David Epstein and John Svenson, was part of the consortium (Boston Basketball Partners LLC) that acquired the Boston Celtics for $360 million.
In 2009, Pagliuca ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. Senator position formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy.
Pagliuca is a managing partner and member of the executive committee of the Boston Celtics and serves as a member of the Board of Governors and the Competition Committee for the National Basketball Association.
In 2009, Pagliuca was one of four candidates vying for the Democratic nomination as part of Massachusetts' special election to fill Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat. Pagliuca came in last in the primary election.
Pagliuca joined Bain Capital in 1989 from Bain & Company where he focused on the information services and healthcare industries and developed Bain & Company's turnaround practice.
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Steve Kagen
Steven Leslie "Steve" Kagen (born December 12, 1949) is a physician and was the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district, serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was defeated in his bid for re-election in 2010 by Reid Ribble, and officially succeeded by him on January 3, 2011.
The district is located in the northeastern part of the state and includes Green Bay and Appleton.
Kagen was born on December, 12 1949 in Appleton, Wisconsin. His first job was with the Appleton Department of Parks and Recreation as a playground leader during the summer months of both his sophomore and junior years at Appleton High School. After graduating in the first class from the new Appleton East High School, Kagen worked as a Teamster in a dairy bagging sugar and whey for part of a summer. He later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a Degree in Molecular Biology, with Honors. Kagen then entered medical school, and later trained at both Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He is triple Board Certified in Internal Medicine; Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology.
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Strickland v. Sony
Strickland v. Sony is a court case whose central focus is on whether violent video games played a role in Devin Moore's first-degree murder/shooting of three police officers. In August 2005, former attorney Jack Thompson filed the lawsuit against Sony.
Devin Moore was convicted in 2005 for the 2003 shooting of 2 police officers and a dispatcher as he was being detained for allegedly stealing a car. He grabbed one officer's .45 caliber pistol and killed all three before fleeing the station in a police cruiser he stole from the station. He was eventually caught and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
In March 2005, Thompson announced he was filing a lawsuit on behalf of the families of two of the three victims in Fayette, Alabama. He was also featured in a 60 Minutes special on the case.
On August 12, 2005 Thompson officially filed Strickland vs. Sony. The third victim's family later joined the lawsuit.
On Tuesday, November 1, 2005, Thompson sent an email to various websites commenting on the opening day of the civil trial. In it, he compared Sony and Take-Two Interactive's sale of the Grand Theft Auto video game to Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. According to Thompson, certain regional governments in Japan had prevented the sale of the Grand Theft Auto games to minors, though Sony continued to sell the game where its sale was not restricted in Japan and abroad (Microsoft is doing the same for its own video game console). Thompson also compared the distribution of violent games to the distribution of pornography.
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Susan Collins
Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1996, she is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
One of six children, Susan Collins was born in Caribou, Maine, where her family has operated a lumber business since 1844. Her parents, Patricia R. (née McGuigan) and Donald F. Collins, each served as mayor of Caribou; her father also served in both houses of the Maine Legislature. Her mother was born in Barranca-Bermeja, Colombia, to American parents. Her uncle, Samuel W. Collins, Jr., sat on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from 1988 to 1994. Collins attended Caribou High School, where she was president of the student council. During her senior year of high school in 1971, Collins was chosen to participate in the U.S. Senate Youth Program, through which she visited Washington, D.C. for the first time and engaged in a two-hour conversation with U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME). Collins is the first program delegate elected to the Senate and currently holds the seat once held by Smith.
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Susan Engeleiter
Susan Shannon Engeleiter (born March 18, 1952) is a member of the Republican Party who served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1980 to 1989 and in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1974 to 1979.
Engeleiter's districts consisted of most of Waukesha County, which included her birthplace/hometown of Brookfield. She is married and has two children.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in 1974, and received her juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School, in 1981.
When she was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly, in 1974, Engleiter was, at age 22, the youngest woman ever elected to the Wisconsin Legislature. She served in the Assembly until January 1979, having decided against running for re-election in 1978 and, instead, seeking the open congressional seat being vacated by then-U.S. Rep. Bob Kasten, who decided to run for WI governor. Engeleiter lost the primary to then-State Senator Jim Sensenbrenner by 589 votes. Engeleiter made a comeback of sorts when she was elected in a special election to the Wisconsin State Senate in April 1980. In the Wisconsin State Senate, Engeleiter served as Assistant Minority Leader from 1982–1984, and as Minority Leader from 1984 - 1989.
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Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, serving since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Baldwin is a candidate in the 2012 U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin to succeed retiring Senator Herb Kohl.
Baldwin was born and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. She was raised by her mother, Pamela (née Green), a social worker, and her African-American stepfather. Her maternal grandfather was Jewish (the son of immigrants from Russia and Germany) and her maternal grandmother, who was Anglican, was English-born. Baldwin graduated from Madison West High School in 1980 as the class valedictorian. She earned a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1984 and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989. She practiced law between 1989–1992.
Baldwin was first elected to political office in 1986 when she was elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, a position that she held until 1994. She also served for one year on the Madison City Council to fill a vacancy in the coterminous district.
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Ted Leonsis
Theodore John Leonsis (born January 8, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York) is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, venture capital investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years. He is the majority owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals, the NBA's Washington Wizards, the WNBA's Washington Mystics and the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. He serves as Founder and Chairman of SnagFilms, vice chairman of Groupon and on the board of American Express and other companies. Leonsis has produced documentary films such as the Peabody and the Emmy Award-winning Nanking and is the author of The Business of Happiness.
Leonsis was born to Greek American parents in Brooklyn, and spent his early years there. His parents worked as a waiter and a secretary. After skipping 8th grade, Leonsis attended Brooklyn Technical High School but before graduation, his family moved back to their hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. He graduated from Lowell High School in 1973 and Georgetown University in 1977. After graduation, Leonsis moved back to his parents' home in Lowell and began working for Wang Laboratories. In 2005, he was honored as one of Lowell High School's Distinguished Alumni for reaching the highest level of accomplishment and possessing the highest standards of integrity and character.
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Terry Porter
Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American professional basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who is currently an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves. A native of Wisconsin, he played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point before being drafted 24th by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1985 NBA Draft. In Portland he played ten seasons with two All-Star Game appearances, and spent 17 years in the NBA as a player. Following his retirement as a player in 2002, he began coaching in the league and has twice been a head coach, first with his hometown Milwaukee Bucks, and then with the Phoenix Suns up until February 16, 2009.
Porter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 8, 1963. Porter played prep basketball, as a forward, at Milwaukee's South Division High School.
Porter attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point (The Pointers), a Division III school. He played under head coach Dick Bennett, and with Brad Soderberg (who later became the head coach at Saint Louis University).
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Terry Stotts
Terry Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American retired professional basketball forward and current assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. His most recent head coaching job was with the Milwaukee Bucks. Stotts was fired by the Milwaukee Bucks on March 14, 2007. Before becoming the head coach of the Bucks, Stotts was an assistant for the Golden State Warriors, head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, and an assistant coach of the Seattle SuperSonics. Terry played in Europe for a few years before becoming a Sonics assistant. He also was the star player for George Karl's CBA team, the Montana Golden Nuggets in the early 1980s.
His total NBA coaching record is 115-168.
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Stotts grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin, Guam, and Indiana and graduated from Bloomington High School North at Bloomington, Indiana in 1976. Stotts started all his four seasons with the University of Oklahoma Sooners basketball team and was an Academic All-American selection in his junior and senior seasons and an All-Big Eight Conference selection in his senior season. He graduated from Oklahoma in 1980 with a B.S. in zoology and a Master's in Business Administration from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA.
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Thad Cochran
William Thad Cochran (born December 7, 1937) is the senior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1978, he is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and was its chairman from 2005 to 2007.
Cochran was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, the son of Emma Grace (née Berry) and William Holmes Cochran, a teacher and school principal, respectively. His family settled in Hinds County, Mississippi, home of the state capital, Jackson, in 1946 after a few moves around the northern part of the state. Cochran still lives in Jackson today. Cochran earned Eagle Scout as a youth and was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult. He graduated valedictorian from Byram High School near Jackson and received a B.A. degree from the University of Mississippi with a major in psychology and a minor in political science in 1959. There he joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and was on the cheerleading squad (fellow senator Trent Lott was also an Ole Miss cheerleader). After a time in the United States Navy (1959–1961), he attended the University of Mississippi School of Law, was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and graduated in 1965. He then practiced law for seven years. He married Rose Clayton on June 6, 1964; the couple has two children, Clayton and Kate.
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Timothy O. Howe
Timothy Otis Howe (February 24, 1816 – March 25, 1883) was a member of the United States Senate, representing the state of Wisconsin from March 4, 1861, to March 4, 1879. He also served as U.S. Postmaster General from 1881 through 1883.
Howe was born in Livermore, Maine, to Timothy Howe and Betsey Howard, attended Readfield Seminary now Kents Hill School, in Readfield, Maine, and studied law with local judges. In 1839, Howe was admitted to the Maine Bar and began practicing law in Readfield. In 1845, he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. Shortly thereafter, Howe moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and opened a law office. He was an ardent Whig and ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Congress in 1848.
Howe married Linda Ann Haines and together the couple had 2 children, Mary E. Howe and Frank K. Howe.
Howe was elected circuit judge in Wisconsin and served in that position from 1851 to 1855. As a circuit judge, he also served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court until a separate Supreme Court was organized in 1853.
wn.com/Timothy_O._Howe -
Toby Roth
Tobias Anton Roth (born October 10, 1938) is a former RepublicanUnited States congressman who represented Wisconsin's 8th congressional district. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1997, when he did not run for re-election. Previously, Roth served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1972 to 1978. He was also a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve. Roth currently lives in Great Falls, Virginia.
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Tom Benson
Tom Benson (born 1927) is the owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Hornets. He is currently the owner of several automobile dealerships in the Greater New Orleans and San Antonio areas. Benson became wealthy by investing profits from his automobile dealerships in local banks. He eventually purchased several small Southern banks and formed Benson Financial, which he sold to Wells Fargo in 1996.
Benson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He purchased the Saints from John Mecom in 1985 after he learned from Governor Edwin W. Edwards that the team was on the verge of being sold to parties interested in moving the team to Jacksonville, Florida. As a successful businessman, he recognized the economic implications of such a move not only for the city of New Orleans, but for the state of Louisiana as well, which was in the midst of a deep economic recession caused by plummeting crude oil prices. Ownership of the team was officially transferred to him on May 31, 1985.
Shortly after acquiring the Saints, he gained a reputation as one of the more popular and colorful owners in the league. He hired general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora, who led the Saints to their first winning season and playoff appearance.
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Tom Carper
Thomas Richard "Tom" Carper (born January 23, 1947) is the senior United States Senator from Delaware and a member of the Democratic Party. He was previously the 71st Governor of Delaware and a member of the House of Representatives from Delaware.
A native of Danville, Virginia, Carper graduated from the Ohio State University. Serving as a Naval Flight Officer in the U.S. Navy from 1968 until 1973, he saw active duty in the Vietnam War. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain. Upon receiving his MBA from the University of Delaware in 1975, Carper went to work for the State of Delaware in its economic development office. He was elected State Treasurer, serving from 1977 to 1983 and leading the development of Delaware's first cash management system.
Encouraged by local politicians, Carper successfully ran for Delaware's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982. He served five terms in the House, where he chaired the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. In 1992 he arranged a "swap" with term-limited Governor Michael Castle, and the two were easily elected to each other's seats. Carper governed for two terms as a moderate, business-oriented "New Democrat", following the lead of the two previous Republican governors. He successfully prevented the closing of a General Motors automobile plant and won a bid for the headquarters of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. He led a tax-reduction campaign and helped improve the state's credit rating from among the worst in the nation to an excellent "AAA". He pushed for standards-based education, among other reforms.
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Tom Coburn
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. (born March 14, 1948), is a United States Senator, medical doctor, and Southern Baptist deacon. A member of the Republican Party, he is the junior senator from Oklahoma.
Coburn was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political office with a successful run for the U.S. Senate.
Coburn is a fiscal and social conservative, known for his opposition to deficit spending and pork barrel projects, and for his leadership in the pro-life movement. He supports term limits, gun rights, and the death penalty and opposes gay marriage. In the Senate, he is known as "Dr. No" for his tendency to place holds on and vote against bills he views as unconstitutional.
Coburn announced on February 12, 2010 that he was running for a second term in the Senate, but would not run for re-election to a third term in the Senate in 2016.
wn.com/Tom_Coburn -
Tom Gores
Tom Gores (1964 - ) is an American billionaire with an estimated current net worth of $2.5 billion dollars. He appears on the Forbes list of 2011 World's Billionaires. On June 1, 2011, Tom Gores and Platinum Equity became the owners of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Detroit Pistons.
Tom Gores was born in Nazareth, Israel to a Greek father and Lebanese mother. His father owned a construction company. In 1968, the family moved to Genesee, Michigan. While a student at Genesee High School, Gores played defensive back in football, middle infielder in baseball, and guard in basketball. He received a scholarship to attend Michigan State University, where he graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management. He spent his twenties learning the buyout business with his older brother Alec.
Gores lives in Beverly Hills with his wife and three children. He also has a house in Grosse Ile, Michigan.
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Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is the current junior United States Senator from Iowa serving since 1985, and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives (1975–1985).
Born in Cumming, Iowa, Harkin graduated from Iowa State University and the The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. He served in the United States Navy as an active-duty jet pilot from 1962 to 1967. After serving as a congressional aide for several years he made two runs for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in 1972 but winning in 1974. He went on to serve five terms in the House.
Harkin won a race for U.S. Senate in 1984 by a wide margin. He was an early frontrunner for his party's presidential nomination in 1992, but dropped out in support of eventual winner Bill Clinton. Now serving his fifth term, Harkin is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He is ranked as the most senior junior senator.
wn.com/Tom_Harkin -
Tom Petri
Thomas Evert Petri (born May 28, 1940) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 6th congressional district, serving since 1979. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes most of the east-central part of the state.
Born in Marinette, Wisconsin, he graduated from Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Petri then attended Harvard University, where he received his bachelors of arts and law degrees. He served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps.
Petri served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1973 to 1979.
Petri ran for the U.S. Senate in 1974. He won the Republican primary with 85% of the vote. In the general election, incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson defeated Petri 62%-36%. Petri only won five counties in the state. In 1977-78, Petri made a run for governor for Wisconsin, but lost his party's convention nomination to Bob Kasten in 1978. Kasten lost the Republican primary to Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who won the general election over incumbent Marty Schreiber.
wn.com/Tom_Petri -
Tom Udall
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Udall (born May 18, 1948) is the junior United States Senator from New Mexico and a member of the Democratic Party. He had represented New Mexico's 3rd congressional district as a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1999. Udall was elected as the junior United States senator from New Mexico on November 4, 2008, defeating Congressman Steve Pearce. He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Jeff Bingaman retires from the Senate in January 2013.
Udall was born in Tucson, Arizona, the son of Ermalee Lenora (née Webb) and Stewart Udall, who was Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969. He attended Prescott College, graduating with a pre-law degree in 1970. In 1975, he graduated from Cambridge University in England with a Bachelor of Law degree. That fall, he enrolled in the University of New Mexico School of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1977.
After graduating, Udall was Law Clerk to Chief Judge Oliver Seth of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. His legal career then included appointments as Assistant US Attorney in the criminal division and Chief Counsel to the Department of Health and Environment. A partnership followed in the Miller Law Firm.
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Tony Earl
Anthony ("Tony") Scully Earl (born April 12, 1936) is a United States politician and a member of the Democratic party and served as the 41st Governor of Wisconsin from 1983 until 1987. He graduated from Michigan State University and earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago. After four years in the Navy, including two years as a legal officer, Earl made his way to Wisconsin in 1965.
Earl was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1969, filling the seat vacated by David Obey, who was elected a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 1974, Earl left the Assembly to run for Wisconsin Attorney General, but was defeated in the primary by Bronson La Follette. Upon his defeat, then-Gov. Patrick Lucey named Earl secretary of the Department of Administration. Later, Earl became Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) where his list of accomplishments include addressing the State's surface water pollution.
In 1982, Earl ran for Governor when Lee S. Dreyfus unexpectedly declined to run for re-election, and soon the Wisconsin Democratic Party's hopes of reclaiming the Governor's mansion became very real. As head of the state DNR, Earl was well-received as a staunch defender of the environment and a problem-solver. Earl used that reputation to defeat former Acting Governor Martin J. Schreiber (1977–79) in the Democratic primary for Governor. Earl went on to defeat the Republican candidate, Terry Jodok Kohler, in a landslide victory.
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Wayne Embry
Wayne Richard Embry (born March 26, 1937 in Springfield, Ohio) is a retired American basketball player; a center/forward whose 11-year career spanned from 1959 to 1969. He played for the Cincinnati Royals, Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks all of the NBA.
He attended Miami University and Tecumseh High School (both in Ohio) before that.
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William Proxmire
Edward William Proxmire (November 11, 1915 – December 15, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989.
Proxmire graduated from The Hill School (in Pottstown, Pennsylvania) in 1933,Yale University in 1938, Harvard Business School in 1940, and Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration in 1948.
During World War II he served as a member of the Military Intelligence Service. After getting his second master's degree, Proxmire moved to Wisconsin to be a reporter for The Capital Times in Madison and to stake out a political career in a favorable state. "They fired me after I'd been there seven months, for labor activities and impertinence," he once said.
In 1946, he married Elsie Rockefeller, a great-granddaughter of William Rockefeller, brother and partner of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. They had two children, Theodore, who lives in Bethesda, Maryland, and Elsie Proxmire Zwerner, of Scottsdale, Arizona. Elsie Proxmire received an uncontested divorce in 1955. She later married Miles J. McMillin, who had worked with Proxmire as the editor and publisher of The Capital Times. McMillin shot Elsie to death in December 1982.
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Wycliffe Grousbeck
Wycliffe "Wyc" Grousbeck is CEO, governor, and co-owner of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics.
After spending seven years as a partner at a venture capital firm, Highland Capital Partners, Grousbeck (along with his father H. Irving Grousbeck and Stephen Pagliuca) founded the group Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. that bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
Grousbeck graduated from Noble and Greenough School and Princeton University, where he rowed on an undefeated lightweight crew team that claimed the mythical national lightweight championship. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
wn.com/Wycliffe_Grousbeck
Famous quotes by Herb Kohl:
"Before we decide to trust you with this power, we ask you to stand before the public and explain your views, ... justice may be blind, but it should not be deaf."
"It makes the hearings even more important, ... It raises the bar higher, simply because the job is even higher. Chief justice is at another level."
"I will vote my hopes and not my fears."
"And he understands that's a big responsibility. He's a leader on a team that has great aspirations."
"As I said to him upstairs, 'The real work starts now,'"
"We need to fight the plague of the uninsured the way we have fought other threats to our way of life and our basic values."
"Even as we pour hundreds of billions of dollars into our efforts in the Middle East, there is much that needs to be done to win the war of ideas in the Muslim world and beyond."
"Bankruptcy is a serious decision that people have to make."
"It's time to stop defending a system that is clearly in dire need of reform, stop issuing reports and setting up new roadblocks, and start providing Americans with prescription drugs that are both safe and affordable."
"We cannot and will not ban the creation of violent video games. But, we can prevent the distribution of these disturbing games to children, where their effects can be negative."
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Sen. Herb Kohl Endorses Tammy Baldwin for Senate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:50
- Updated: 15 Aug 2012
At her campaign kickoff in Milwaukee, Sen. Herb Kohl announced his endorsement of Rep. Tammy Baldwin, saying she is the only person he would have succeed him.
http://wn.com/Sen_Herb_Kohl_Endorses_Tammy_Baldwin_for_Senate
WPT Here and Now - US Sen. Herb Kohl interview
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:07
- Updated: 02 May 2011
US Sen.Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) speaks with Frederica Freyberg about US Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal, as well as Wisconsin's Senior Care program. Watch Here and Now on Wisconsin Public Television at 7:30 pm Fridays. wpt.org
http://wn.com/WPT_Here_and_Now_US_Sen_Herb_Kohl_interview
Senator Kohl Speaks on Expiring Tax Cuts and Employer-Provided Child Care
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:57
- Updated: 25 Jul 2012
http://wn.com/Senator_Kohl_Speaks_on_Expiring_Tax_Cuts_and_Employer-Provided_Child_Care
Sen Herb Kohl speaks about Platform to Employment at the Senate Special Committee on Aging
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:23
- Updated: 24 May 2012
On Tuesday May 15, 2012, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing entitled, "Missed by the Recovery: Solving the Long-term Unemployment Crisis for Older Workers." The hearing included testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the findings of a new report that looks at how the employment status of older workers has changed since the recession; older workers' financial risks from long-term unemployment and challenges in finding new jobs; and, at what additional policies might help older workers regain employment and what steps the Department of Labor has taken to help unemployed older workers. Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, Chairman of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging speaks about Platform to Employment, a Connecticut program that has had great success in assisting older workers facing long-term unemployment find new jobs, and experts who will discuss the challenges older workers face. For more info about Platform to Employment, visit www.platformtoemployment.com
http://wn.com/Sen_Herb_Kohl_speaks_about_Platform_to_Employment_at_the_Senate_Special_Committee_on_Aging
Herb Kohl Retiring
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:15
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
The end of a political era in Wisconsin was announced today. US Senator Herb Kohl said he will not seek another term.
http://wn.com/Herb_Kohl_Retiring
Kohl reflects on time in Senate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:29
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl spoke to 12 News' Craig McKee at the Democratic National Convention and reflected on his time in the Senate.
http://wn.com/Kohl_reflects_on_time_in_Senate
Herb Kohl calls for new Milwaukee arena
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:07
- Updated: 24 May 2012
Carole Meekins, Mike Jacobs.
http://wn.com/Herb_Kohl_calls_for_new_Milwaukee_arena
Senator Herb Kohl in Milwaukee (September 22nd, 2012)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:00
- Updated: 27 Sep 2012
After Mayor Tom Barrett spoke, Senator Herb Kohl gave one the last campaign speeches of his career, thanking Wisconsin for its years of support. He also endorsed President Barack Obama's re-election, and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to succeed him.
http://wn.com/Senator_Herb_Kohl_in_Milwaukee_September_22nd,_2012
Herb Kohl at Ron Kind Corn Roast 9-27-2012 West Salem
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:54
- Updated: 28 Sep 2012
Ron Kind Corn Roast 9-27-2012 West Salem, Wisconsin
http://wn.com/Herb_Kohl_at_Ron_Kind_Corn_Roast_9-27-2012_West_Salem
Intro Herb Kohl, Ron Kind Corn Roast 9-27-2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:29
- Updated: 28 Sep 2012
Ron Kind Corn Roast 9-27-2012 West Salem, Wisconsin
http://wn.com/Intro_Herb_Kohl,_Ron_Kind_Corn_Roast_9-27-2012
Herb Kohl @ Obama rally on UW-Madison grounds in Madison, Wisconsin, 10/4/2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:59
- Updated: 05 Oct 2012
Herb Kohl takes the stage & gives a speech about the university before Obama speaks @ the Obama rally on the UW-Madison campus, Bascom Mall, Madison, Wisconsin. October 4, 2012.
http://wn.com/Herb_Kohl_@_Obama_rally_on_UW-Madison_grounds_in_Madison,_Wisconsin,_10_4_2012
Senator Herb Kohl-WRWA Tradition of Excellence Award
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:41
- Updated: 06 Jun 2012
Senator Herb Kohl accepting Wisconsin Rural Water Association Tradition of Excellence award.
http://wn.com/Senator_Herb_Kohl-WRWA_Tradition_of_Excellence_Award
Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl Speaks at MOSES Organic Farming Conference
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:49
- Updated: 05 Mar 2012
Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl's comments to the 2012 MOSES Organic Farming Conference audience at Friday's general session; February 24, 2012 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
http://wn.com/Wisconsin_Senator_Herb_Kohl_Speaks_at_MOSES_Organic_Farming_Conference
US Senator Herb Kohl
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:28
- Updated: 05 Oct 2012
Retiring Democratic Wisconsin State Senator Herb Kohl at President Barack Obama's Campaign Rally in Madison on October 4, 2012.
http://wn.com/US_Senator_Herb_Kohl
Sen. Herb Kohl Shares Interest in Organic Farming
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:28
- Updated: 25 Feb 2012
http://wn.com/Sen_Herb_Kohl_Shares_Interest_in_Organic_Farming
Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Barrett & Senator Herb Kohl In Eau Claire
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:33
- Updated: 30 Apr 2012
Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Barrett & Senator Herb Kohl In Eau Claire
http://wn.com/Gubernatorial_Candidate_Tom_Barrett_Senator_Herb_Kohl_In_Eau_Claire
Discover Janesville EXCLUSIVE: Kohl, Baldwin, Zerban in Janesville 10/20/2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 20:15
- Updated: 21 Oct 2012
Senator Herb Kohl, Congresswoman and Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin, and US Congress candidate Rob Zerban, stopped at a canvassing location in Janesville and spoke to volunteers. Additionally, featuring an interview with Senator Kohl about his plans for the future.
http://wn.com/Discover_Janesville_EXCLUSIVE_Kohl,_Baldwin,_Zerban_in_Janesville_10_20_2012
RAW: Tammy Baldwin acceptance speech
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 18:18
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin gave a victory speech on Nov. 6, 2012, announcing that she will become Wisconsin's first female senator - succeeding retiring Senator Herb Kohl.
http://wn.com/RAW_Tammy_Baldwin_acceptance_speech
adam steve alex 2 of 6.wmv
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:44
- Updated: 03 May 2012
Don Nelson Hall of Famer Herb Kohl's Farm Adam Tom McKee, Alex Scheiwe, Stephen Vincent Anderson 2 0f 6 of continuous mix
http://wn.com/adam_steve_alex_2_of_6wmv
Senator Kohl's Message to our Soldiers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:34
- Updated: 27 May 2012
http://wn.com/Senator_Kohl's_Message_to_our_Soldiers
Herb Kohl Quotes
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:01
- Updated: 21 Mar 2012
What was your favorite Herb Kohl quote? 'Like' and leave a comment below, then jump over to quotetank.com and make a list of your favorites, so you'll never forget! We update our Twitter and Facebook with new quotes every few minutes, don't miss out! twitter.com | www.facebook.com If you enjoyed these quotes, please LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE! Who is Herb Kohl? The senior U.
http://wn.com/Herb_Kohl_Quotes
Wisconsin debate Tommy Thompson Tammy Baldwin
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 53:42
- Updated: 30 Sep 2012
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson faces Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin today September 28 2012 the two candidates are competing for the seat of retiring Senator Herb Kohl in the state of Wisconsin.
http://wn.com/Wisconsin_debate_Tommy_Thompson_Tammy_Baldwin
Wisconsin Second Debate Tommy Thompson Tammy Baldwin
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 55:33
- Updated: 19 Oct 2012
Former Governor Tommy Thompson faced off with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin today October 18 2012 in their second of three televised debates for the US Senate. They are competing for the seat of retiring Senator Herb Kohl
http://wn.com/Wisconsin_Second_Debate_Tommy_Thompson_Tammy_Baldwin
photo: AP / Sebastian D'souza
21 Nov 2012
MUMBAI, India - India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was one of 10 gunmen who rampaged through the streets of India's financial capital in November 2008, killing 166 people. Kasab was hung at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at a jail in...(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: AP
23 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. I was fortunate to have been raised near an American Indian archaeological spot located on the Great Plains. In elementary school, a fellow classmate would periodically bring and show grinding stones, arrow- and spearheads, stone farming implements, and pictures of what the excavated site may have...(size: 7.1Kb)
photo: AP / Emilio Morenatti
22 Nov 2012
A new battle is underway in Pakistan with its powerful military front-and-centre, but the fight is not against armed insurgents or ideological extremists - this opponent is a muscle-flexing Supreme Court. For the first time in decades, the military's iron grip over the South Asian country has been challenged, and it remains to be seen if it will...(size: 23.7Kb)
photo: AP / Melanie Gouby
21 Nov 2012
Hundreds of government soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to rebels at a stadium in Goma, Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri has reported from the scene. The M23 rebel group, believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic, provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo on Tuesday, home to more than 1 million...(size: 18.7Kb)
photo: UN / Logan Abassi
21 Nov 2012
A report by the UN says global attempts to curb emissions of CO2 are falling well short of what is needed to stem dangerous climate change. The UN's Environment Programme says greenhouse gases are 14% above where they need to be in 2020 for temperature rises this century to remain below 2C. The authors say this target is still technically...(size: 3.5Kb)
Huffington Post
17 Nov 2012
Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, will be one of just 85 veterans in House in the 113th session. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)...(size: 25.2Kb)
CounterPunch
16 Nov 2012
One little-noted but important result of the November election in the US that returned President Barack Obama to the White House for another four years is that the right-wing Israeli government and the Zionist lobbying organization AIPAC (for American Israel Public Affairs Committee) took a surprising drubbing and emerge a much weaker political...(size: 6.9Kb)
Business Insider
15 Nov 2012
While John McCain Was Slamming Obama On Libya Yesterday, He Missed A Major Classified Briefing The Latest Plan To Keep Elizabeth Warren Off The Senate Banking Committee Elizabeth Warren's First Press Conference As A Senator-Elect Was Totally Awkward We know that Wall Street would rather not have consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren sitting on the...(size: 3.4Kb)
Business Insider
13 Nov 2012
Elizabeth Warren before a Congressional hearing. If You Think Elizabeth Warren Is Going To Act Like A Junior Senator, Think Again Washington Insiders Are Already Trying To Figure Out What Elizabeth Warren Will Tackle When She Gets To The Hill Wall Street, Your Worst Nightmare Won The Massachusetts Senate Race We know that the last thing Wall Street...(size: 3.6Kb)
San Francisco Chronicle
13 Nov 2012
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrats in Wisconsin's congressional delegation on Tuesday urged Gov. Scott Walker to implement a state-run health insurance exchange rather than cede control to the federal government. Walker faced a Friday deadline to notify President Barack Obama's administration whether Wisconsin will run its own virtual marketplace where...(size: 4.7Kb)
The Examiner
13 Nov 2012
Related topics Election 2012 Examinerolder adults Advertisement The election results mean changes in Congressional committees that oversee programs and benefits for older adults next year. Thanks to the election, there will be at least 79 new Representatives and 12 new Senators in the 113th Congress that convenes in January. Not all of the freshman...(size: 8.4Kb)
Huffington Post
13 Nov 2012
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's definitive reelection victory has invited Democrats to imagine a new era of liberalism, in which they are no longer are forced to swallow policy complaints for the sake of winning a second term....(size: 15.9Kb)
Huffington Post
12 Nov 2012
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Richard Carmona conceded last week to Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, but as activists protest in Arizona over uncounted ballots, Carmona's campaign said Monday it will consider its options if the voting tally tightens....(size: 19.8Kb)
Daily Press
09 Nov 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chances are good, but not guaranteed, that Elizabeth Warren will secure a highly coveted seat on the Senate Banking Committee, a move that would dramatically elevate her campaign against Wall Street excess. Senior Senate Democratic aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Massachusetts senator-elect is a...(size: 7.8Kb)
Reuters
09 Nov 2012
* Senate aide says Warren can probably get banking panel * Warren pushed for new consumer protection agency * Senate aides say there is still no guarantees on Warren * Other Senate Democrats said to be vying for banking spots By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The chances are good, but not guaranteed, that Elizabeth Warren will secure...(size: 5.7Kb)
CNBC
09 Nov 2012
It’s hard to fathom but there’s at least a fair chance that Elizabeth Warren may not get a seat on the Senate Banking Committee. Warren’s resume makes her a perfect fit for the committee. Her tenure as chair of the Congressional TARP oversight panel gave her a clear view of the intersection of the financial sector and government. In that post she...(size: 15.9Kb)
The Times of India
08 Nov 2012
MILWAUKEE: Wisconsin Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin made history on Tuesday with her election to become the first openly gay US Senator, defeating former Governor Tommy Thompson in the most expensive Senate race in state history. Between them, the two candidates raised at least $65 million. Thompson conceded...(size: 2.1Kb)
US News
08 Nov 2012
Democratic outreach and issues proved pivotal Female senators-elect Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (upper left), Deb Fischer of Kansas (upper right), Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (lower left) and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin (lower right). Just minutes after Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl announced his retirement after four terms in office, members of...(size: 3.9Kb)
This article is about the United States Senator. For the educator and author, see Herbert Kohl (education).
| Herb Kohl | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| United States Senator from Wisconsin |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1989 Serving with Ron Johnson |
|
| Preceded by | William Proxmire |
| Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 4, 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Gordon Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Herbert H. Kohl (1935-02-07) February 7, 1935 (age 77) Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | None |
| Residence | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A.) Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) |
| Occupation | Business Executive Milwaukee Bucks Owner |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www.kohl.senate.gov |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1958–1964 |
| Unit | Army Reserve |
Herbert H. "Herb" Kohl (born February 7, 1935) is the senior United States Senator from Wisconsin and a member of the Democratic Party. He is also a philanthropist and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks National Basketball Association (NBA) team. He has announced he will not seek re-election in 2012.
Contents |
Early life, education and career[link]
Kohl was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended Washington High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1956 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1958. While an undergraduate, he joined the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Between 1958 and 1964, Kohl was a member of the United States Army Reserve.
After finishing graduate school, Kohl worked as an investor in real estate and the stock market, eventually spinning off his own company, Kohl Investments, to manage these assets. He and his brother became heir to a family-owned chain that included 50 grocery stores and several department stores, pharmacies, and liquor stores. In 1970, Kohl was named President of Kohl's and he helped to oversee the merger of his corporation with BATUS Inc. in 1972. Kohl stayed on as an executive until 1979. Before his election to the Senate, Kohl helped build his family-owned business, Kohl's grocery and department stores. He served as president from 1970 until the sale of the corporation in 1979.
In 1985, Kohl purchased the Milwaukee Bucks from Jim Fitzgerald to ensure the team remained in Milwaukee. In 2003, he considered an offer to sell the team to former NBA superstar Michael Jordan, but decided to retain ownership. He was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Early political career[link]
Kohl served as Chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party between 1975 and 1977.
U.S. Senate[link]
Committee assignments[link]
- Committee on Appropriations
- Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Defense
- Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
- Committee on Banking, Housing, Urban Affairs
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Special Committee on Aging (Chairman)
Political positions[link]
Kohl has been described as left-of center and with some libertarian tendencies.[1]
Kohl supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009,[2] and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.[3]
Fiscal policy[link]
He has voted in favor of most lawsuit reform measures as well as for rules tightening personal bankruptcy. He has long supported amending the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced budget. He was one of the few Democrats to vote for the tax cut passed in 2001, and he also supported the elimination of the "marriage penalty." Despite these views, he has been seen as generally supportive of progressive taxation. Like many moderate Democrats, he voted in favor of the welfare reform measures in the mid 1990s. He is also not opposed to the creation of individual, private savings accounts to supplement Social Security.[1]
Kohl has generally had a pro-environmental record and has been an outspoken proponent of American energy independence. He supports increased production of hydrogen cars, establishing a federal goal for reducing oil consumption by 40 percent, and disallowing oil speculation in protected areas. However, he has voted against Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Kohl has been rated highly by groups that desire universal health care. He has voted in favor of expanding Medicare and SCHIP and has desired that prescription drugs be included under federal health coverage. During his most recent election campaign, Kohl advocated that HMOs be placed under more scrutiny in order to determine if they're effectively delivering care.[1]
Social policy[link]
Kohl is strongly pro-choice and opposes the death penalty. He is highly in favor of affirmative action and supports setting aside funds for women and minorities. Although he voted in favor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, Kohl rejected the recent proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman and has supported measures that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Kohl has consistently voted against the flag desecration amendment and in recent years has voted against restrictions on travel to Cuba and funding for TV Martí. In 2005 he secured a victory for one of his main causes: requiring handguns to be sold with child safety locks. The amendment was attached to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, with every Democrat and many Republicans voting in favor of the amendment. Earlier in his career, he helped push the Gun-Free Schools Act which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in 1995 and has submitted many amendments to that effect.[4] He is a strong supporter of public education and has rejected school vouchers. Kohl has voted in favor of allowing for the establishment of educational savings accounts.
Foreign policy[link]
Kohl has voted against many free trade agreements including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and more recently the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and voted against the Freedom to Farm Act in 1996. However, he has also supported fast tracking trade normalization with China and establishing free trade with some smaller countries of the developing world. He voted in 2002 to authorize military force in Iraq; however, he voted against authorizing the Gulf War in 1990. Kohl has voted on a number of occasions with more liberal Democrats to reduce military spending, voting against 1996 defense appropriations increases and supporting a veto of funding new military projects. Despite having been among the 98 U.S. Senators who voted for the PATRIOT Act, Kohl subsequently opposed this legislation and has voted to require warrants for wiretapping or the detention of prisoners.[1]
Political campaigns[link]
Kohl won election to the U.S. Senate in 1988 with his trademark catchphrase "Nobody's Senator But Yours".[5] He was reelected in 1994, 2000 and 2006. He will not seek re-election in 2012.
Electoral history[link]
| United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2006 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Herb Kohl (incumbent) | 1,439,214 | 67.31 | ||
| Republican | Robert Lorge | 630,299 | 29.48 | ||
| Green | Rae Vogeler | 42,434 | 1.98 | ||
| Independent | Ben J. Glatzel | 25,096 | 1.17 | ||
| United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Herb Kohl (incumbent) | 1,563,238 | 61.54 | ||
| Republican | John Gillespie | 940,744 | 37.04 | ||
| United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 1994 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Herb Kohl (incumbent) | 912,662 | 58.29 | ||
| Republican | Bob Welch | 636,989 | 40.69 | ||
| United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 1988 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Herb Kohl | 1,128,625 | 52.08 | ||
| Republican | Susan Engeleiter | 1,030,440 | 47.55 | ||
| Wisconsin U.S. Senate Election 1988 – Democratic Primary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Herb Kohl | 249,226 | 46.78 | ||
| Democratic | Tony Earl | 203,479 | 38.19 | ||
| Democratic | Ed Garvey | 55,225 | 10.37 | ||
| Democratic | Doug La Follette | 19,819 | 3.72 | ||
Personal life[link]
With an estimated net worth in 2005 of $279 million, Kohl is one of the wealthiest U.S. Senators.[6] He has donated $25 million to the University of Wisconsin–Madison for construction of its new sports arena, which was named the Kohl Center. It was the largest single donation in University of Wisconsin System history.[citation needed] In 1990 he established the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Achievement Award Program, which provides annual grants totaling $100,000 to 100 graduating seniors, 100 teachers and 100 schools throughout Wisconsin.
On May 13, 2011, Kohl announced his retirement and plans to not run for relection in 2012. In this announcement, he said, "The office doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the people of Wisconsin, and there is something to be said for not staying in office too long,"[7]
References[link]
- ^ a b c d "Herbert Kohl on the Issues". Ontheissues.org. http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Herbert_Kohl.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote". Senate.gov. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00396. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote". Senate.gov. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00105. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- ^ Kohl Amendment: Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
- ^ TIME magazine, June 24, 2001
- ^ USA Today, May 20, 2005
- ^ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, May 12, 2011
External links[link]
- United States Senator Herb Kohl official Senate site
- Herb Kohl Educational Foundation
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Profile at SourceWatch
| United States Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Proxmire |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Wisconsin 1989–present Served alongside: Bob Kasten, Russ Feingold, Ron Johnson |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Gordon Smith Oregon |
Chairman of Senate Aging Committee 2007–present |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Kent Conrad D-North Dakota |
United States Senators by seniority 19th |
Succeeded by Joe Lieberman I-Connecticut |
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| Current team owners in the National Basketball Association | ||
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Conference | ||
| Atlantic
H. Irving Grousbeck, Wycliffe Grousbeck and Stephen Pagliuca (Boston Celtics) |
Central
Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago Bulls) |
Southeast
Atlanta Spirit (Atlanta Hawks) |
| Western Conference | ||
| Southwest
Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks) |
Northwest
Stan Kroenke (Denver Nuggets) |
Pacific
Peter Guber and Joe Lacob (Golden State Warriors) |
|
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| Representatives to the 101st–112th United States Congresses from Wisconsin (ordered by seniority) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 101st | Senate: B. Kasten | H. Kohl | House: R. Kastenmeier | D. Obey | L. Aspin | T. Roth | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | S. Gunderson | J. Moody | J. Kleczka |
| 102nd | Senate: B. Kasten | H. Kohl | House: D. Obey | L. Aspin | T. Roth | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | S. Gunderson | J. Moody | J. Kleczka | S. Klug |
| 103rd | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | T. Roth | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | S. Gunderson | J. Kleczka | S. Klug | T. Barrett | P. Barca |
| 104th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | T. Roth | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | S. Gunderson | J. Kleczka | S. Klug | T. Barrett | M. Neumann |
| 105th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | S. Klug | T. Barrett | M. Neumann | J. W. Johnson | R. Kind |
| 106th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 107th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 108th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 109th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan | G. Moore |
| 110th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 111th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 112th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Johnson | House: J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Duffy | R. Ribble |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kohl, Herb |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | February 7, 1935 |
| Place of birth | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Tammy Baldwin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1999 |
|
| Preceded by | Scott Klug |
| Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 78th district |
|
| In office January 1993 – January 1999 |
|
| Preceded by | David E. Clarenbach |
| Succeeded by | Mark Pocan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (1962-02-11) February 11, 1962 (age 50) Madison, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | Smith College University of Wisconsin Law School |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Website | tammybaldwin.house.gov |
Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, serving since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Baldwin is a candidate in the 2012 U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin to succeed retiring Senator Herb Kohl.
Contents |
Early life, education, and early political career[link]
Baldwin was born and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. She was raised by her mother, Pamela (née Green), a social worker, and her African-American stepfather.[1][2] Her maternal grandfather was Jewish (the son of immigrants from Russia and Germany) and her maternal grandmother, who was Anglican, was English-born.[3] Baldwin graduated from Madison West High School in 1980 as the class valedictorian. She earned a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1984 and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989.[4] She practiced law between 1989–1992.
Baldwin was first elected to political office in 1986 when she was elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, a position that she held until 1994. She also served for one year on the Madison City Council to fill a vacancy in the coterminous district.
Wisconsin Assembly (1993–1999)[link]
Elections[link]
In 1992, she ran for Wisconsin's 78th Assembly District. She won the Democratic primary with a plurality of 43% of the vote.[5] In the general election, she defeated Mary Kay Baum (Labor and Farm party nominee) and Patricia Hevenor (Republican party nominee) 59%-23%-17%.[6] She was one of just six openly gay political candidates nationwide to win a general election in 1992.[7]
In 1994, she won re-election to a second term with 76% of the vote.[8] In 1996, she won re-election to a third term with 71% of the vote.[9]
Tenure[link]
She is the first openly lesbian member of the Wisconsin Assembly and was one of the very few openly gay politicians in the country at the time. In 1993, Baldwin said she was disappointed by Democrat President Bill Clinton's compromise on LGBT rights by supporting don't ask, don't tell policy of the military.[10] In early 1994, she proposed legalizing gay marriage in Wisconsin.[11][12] In 1995, she proposed Domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.[13]
Baldwin opposed capital punishment in Wisconsin.[14]
Committee assignments[link]
U.S. House of Representatives (1999–2013)[link]
Elections[link]
- 1998–2004
In 1998, incumbent Democrat U.S. Congressman Scott Klug of Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, based in Madison, decided to retire. She ran and won the Democratic primary with a plurality of 37% of the vote.[17] In the general election, she defeated Republican nominee Josephine Musser 53%-47%.[18]
In 2000, she won re-election to a second term defeating Republican John Sharpless 51%-49%, a difference of 8,902 votes. She only won one of nine counties in the CD, Dane, which she won with 55% of the vote, enough for her to win.[19] In 2002, she won re-election to a third term in the newly redrawn 2nd district with 66% of the vote.[20] In 2004, she won re-election to a fourth term with 63% of the vote.[21] She outperformed presidential nominee John Kerry by one point.
- 2006
See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2006#2nd Congressional District
She won re-election to a fifth term with 63% of the vote.[22]
- 2008
See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2008#2nd Congressional District
She won re-election to a sixth term with 69% of the vote.[23] That was the same percentage Barack Obama got in the 2nd CD.
- 2010
See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2010#2nd Congressional District
She won re-election to a seventh term with 62% of the vote.[24]
Tenure[link]
Baldwin was the first woman elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin. She was also the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to the House of Representatives.
Americans for Democratic Action consistently gives Baldwin' a score of between 95 and 100 based on her voting record.
On October 10, 2002, Baldwin was among the 133 members of the House who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
In 2003 Baldwin served on the advisory committee of the Progressive Majority, a political networking group dedicated to electing progressive candidates to public office. In 2005 she joined the Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus.
On August 1, 2007, Baldwin signed on to co-sponsor H. Res. 333, a bill proposing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney and H Res. 589, a bill proposing the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. On January 20, 2008, Baldwin wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that on Dec. 14, 2007, “I joined with my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee, Reps. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), in urging Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to conduct hearings on a resolution of impeachment now pending consideration in that committee.” Although some constituents “say I have gone too far,” others “argue I have not gone far enough” and feel “we are losing our democracy and that I should do more to hold the Bush administration accountable for its actions.”[25]
During the 2008 presidential election, she was a superdelegate pledged to Hillary Clinton.
Baldwin is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. According to a 2011 survey by the National Journal, Baldwin is among the most liberal members of the House.[26]
- Health care
An outspoken advocate of a single-payer, government-run health-care since her days as a state legislator, Baldwin introduced the Health Security for All Americans Act, aimed at creating such a system, multiple times beginning in 2000.
On July 26, 2004, Baldwin spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in prime time on the issue of health care. During the 110th Congress, Baldwin wrote several pieces of legislation that were passed by the House. The Reeve Paralysis Act authorizes additional funding for the treatment of ailments that result in immobility, while the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Act increases funding for low-income women to receive preventative screenings. Another bill that she authored, the Veteran Vision Equity Act, guarantees benefits for military veterans.[27]
In November 2009 she voted for the version of healthcare reform that passed in the House and included a public option, a government-run healthcare plan that would have competed with private insurers. She ultimately voted for the healthcare reform measure that became law in March 2010.
- Women's rights
Baldwin has lent her support to such initiatives as the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and has voted for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.[28][29] These acts criminalize and outline prosecution guidelines and punishments for wage discrimination based on sex. She received a grade of 100 from the League of Women Voters as of 2007.[30] She has received favorable evaluations from other civil rights groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union.[30]
Baldwin has also advanced what she sees as stronger enforcement of laws against sexual violence and violence against women.[28] She is a supporter of the Violence Against Women Act, which allowed victims of sexual violence and other sexual crimes to take their cases to federal courts and provided funding for various anti-sexual violence initiatives and programs. She is also among the sponsors of a resolution to promote and support National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.[28]
Baldwin has also promoted her efforts on behalf of women's health and reproductive rights.[28] She sponsored the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, which helped low-income, underinsured and uninsured women pay for cervical and breast cancer-related medical services.[28][31]
- Israel
In May 2002 Baldwin voted no on House Resolution 392, which affirmed that the House of Representatives “stands in solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas.”[citation needed]
Committee assignments[link]
Caucus memberships[link]
- Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus
- Congressional Composites Caucus
- Congressional Fitness Caucus
- Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Congressional Wine Caucus
- Food Safety Caucus
- Future of American Media Caucus
- International Conservation Caucus
- Congressional Arts Caucus
2012 U.S. Senate election[link]
Main article: United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2012
Baldwin announced her candidacy for the election on September 6, 2011 in a video emailed to supporters.[32] If elected, Baldwin would become the first openly gay member of the United States Senate.[33] Baldwin is expected to receive substantial support from left-leaning donors.[34]
Electoral history[link]
- 1998 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D), 53%
- Josephine Musser (R), 47%
- 2000 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 51%
- John Sharpless (R), 49%
- 2002 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 66%
- Ron Greer (R), 34%
- 2004 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 63%
- Dave Magnum (R), 37%
- 2006 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 63%
- Dave Magnum (R), 37%
- 2008 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 69%
- Peter Theron (R), 31%
- 2010 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district
- Tammy Baldwin (D) (inc.), 62%
- Chad Lee (R), 38%
Personal life[link]
In April 2008, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intervened with Defense Secretary Robert Gates to get Baldwin's domestic partner on a military flight heading for a congressional trip to Europe. Contention arose with the Pentagon due to its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on LGBT affairs.[35] For fifteen years, her domestic partner was Lauren Azar, until the couple separated in 2010.[36]
References[link]
- ^ "Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin". Ancestry.com. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/reps/baldwin.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ O'Brien, Will (September 8, 2011). "Dems eye Baldwin’s congressional seat". Beloit Daily News. http://www.beloitdailynews.com/news/dems-eye-baldwin-s-congressional-seat/article_9f50565e-da35-11e0-bfab-001cc4c03286.html. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- ^ Roehr, Bob (June 14, 2007). "Marriage activists mark Loving anniversary". The Bay Area Reporter. http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1923. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
- ^ "Tammy Baldwin's Biography on TammyBaldwin.com (pertaining to education)". http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/aboutTammy.html. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- ^ "WI State House 78 - D Primary Race - Sep 08, 1992". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=748462. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI State House 78 Race - Nov 03, 1992". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=745987. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "AIDS, gay rights top agenda". The Telegraph-Herald. January 4, 1993. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ik9FAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1bsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3862,767673&dq=tammy+baldwin&hl=en.
- ^ "WI State House 78 Race - Nov 08, 1994". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=748464. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI State House 78 Race - Nov 05, 1996". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=748465. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "Baldwin disappointed with Clinton compromise". The Milwaukee Journal. July 20, 1993. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PKIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qSwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3581,4108939&dq=tammy+baldwin&hl=en.
- ^ Weintraub, Joanne (February 11, 1994). "Activist denounces move to legalize gay marriages". The Milwaukee Journal. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZqIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uywEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6746,2983623&dq=tammy+baldwin&hl=en.
- ^ "Lesbian can't adopt child". The Milwaukee Sentinel. June 9, 1994. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nplQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CRMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5996,2439025&dq=tammy+baldwin&hl=en.
- ^ "Benefits/ Mates gain coverage". The Milwaukee Journal. July 17, 1995. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O64cAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dy0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723,3273211&dq=tammy+baldwin&hl=en.
- ^ "JSOnline.com News Archives". Nl.newsbank.com. 1994-09-16. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB82883723F7EA6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "'Pre-emption bill' deserves to be shot down". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. April 3, 1995. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jkscAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7iwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5983,6248278&dq=tammy+baldwin+committee&hl=en.
- ^ "Former prisoners blast, laud prison 'boot camp'". The Telegraph-Herald. December 17, 1993. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nQ1eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9l8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3625,3780625&dq=tammy+baldwin+committee&hl=en.
- ^ "WI - District 02 - D Primary Race - Sep 08, 1998". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=372973. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI District 2 Race - Nov 03, 1998". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=31209. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI District 2 Race - Nov 07, 2000". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=692. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI District 2 Race - Nov 05, 2002". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=1326. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI - District 02 Race - Nov 02, 2004". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=4412. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI - District 02 Race - Nov 07, 2006". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=207756. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI - District 02 Race - Nov 04, 2008". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=409645. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "WI - District 02 Race - Nov 02, 2010". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=495207. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ Tammy Baldwin (Jan. 20, 2008). "Impeachment resolution a matter of accountability". JSOnline. http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/29578324.html. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ "Vote Ratings 2010". National Journal. Atlantic Media. http://www.nationaljournal.com/2010voteratings. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ^ "Congresswoman Tamy Baldwin - About Tammy". http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/aboutTammy.html. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ a b c d e "Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin - Women's Rights". http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/issues_Women.html. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ^ "S.181 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress". http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s181/votes.
- ^ a b "Project Vote Smart - Representative Tammy Baldwin - Interest Group Ratings". http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?category=13&go.x=11&go.y=10&can_id=3470&type=category. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ^ "H.R. 1132 (110th): National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (GovTrack.us)". http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1132. Retrieved 2009-11-27.
- ^ Glauber, Bill (September 6, 2011). "Tammy Baldwin enters race for open Senate seat". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/129281483.html. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- ^ "Will Tabby Baldwin be the first gay senator". Washingtonpost.org. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/will-tammy-baldwin-be-the-firstgay-senator/2011/09/06/gIQAeL226J_blog.html. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ ROBIN BRAVENDER. "Big liberal money may skip moderates". Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70044.html. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ "Pentagon balked on gay partner travel". Politico. 4/1/08. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9296.html. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ "Wis. congresswoman separates from longtime partner". WQOW. May 29, 2010. http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12563993.
External links[link]
- Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin official U.S. House site
- Tammy Baldwin for Congress official campaign site
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Profile at SourceWatch
- Profile at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin
- Articles / presentations
- "The Students' Rep", American Prospect, October 1, 2003
- WTN Interview with Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin: Facilitating technology growth and regional economic development is a priority Mike Klein, Wisconsin Technology Network, August 6, 2003
- "Tammy Baldwin's Turn" John Nichols, The Nation, July 25, 2004
- "Federal Politics and Medical Practices", Presentation given by Tammy Baldwin at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, January 25, 2007
- "Health Care Reform in 2009? The View from Washington, DC", Presentation given by Tammy Baldwin at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, February 4, 2008
| Wisconsin State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by David E. Clarenbach |
Member of the Wisconsin Assembly from the 78th district 1993–1999 |
Succeeded by Mark Pocan |
| United States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by Scott Klug |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district 1999–present |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Steve Chabot R-Ohio |
United States Representatives by seniority 146th |
Succeeded by Shelley Berkley D-Nevada |
|
|||||||||||
| Representatives to the 106th–112th United States Congresses from Wisconsin (ordered by seniority) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 106th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 107th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 108th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 109th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan | G. Moore |
| 110th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 111th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 112th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Johnson | House: J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Duffy | R. Ribble |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Baldwin, Tammy |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | February 11, 1962 |
| Place of birth | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Tammy_Baldwin
Related pages:
http://pt.wn.com/Tammy Baldwin
http://de.wn.com/Tammy Baldwin
http://it.wn.com/Tammy Baldwin
http://pl.wn.com/Tammy Baldwin
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Baldwin
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Ron Kind | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 3rd district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Steve Gunderson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ronald James Kind (1963-03-16) March 16, 1963 (age 49) La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Tawni Kind |
| Children | Johnny Kind Matthew Kind |
| Residence | La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | Harvard College London School of Economics University of Minnesota |
| Occupation | Attorney |
| Religion | Lutheran |
Ronald James "Ron" Kind (born March 16, 1963) is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the western portion of the state and is anchored by La Crosse and Eau Claire and Platteville.
Contents |
Early life, education and career[link]
Kind was born and raised in La Crosse. He is the third of five children born to Greta and Elroy Kind, and the fifth generation of his family to live in the area.[1] Kind's mother formerly worked as the assistant director of personnel in the La Crosse School District. His father had a 35-year career as a telephone repairman and union leader at the La Crosse Telephone Company.[1]
Kind attended the public schools in La Crosse and became a standout student athlete at Logan High School in both football and basketball. He accepted a scholarship to Harvard College where he graduated with honors in 1985. While attending Harvard, Kind played quarterback on the football team and worked during the summer with Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire in Washington. In Proxmire's office he helped investigate waste, which provided the basis for some of the senator's famous Golden Fleece Awards.[1]
Kind went on to receive a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Law Degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. He practiced law for two years at the law firm of Quarles and Brady in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Kind returned to his hometown of La Crosse to become a county prosecutor. He later served as a special prosecutor in numerous counties throughout western Wisconsin.[1]
U.S. House of Representatives[link]
Committee assignments[link]
Caucus memberships[link]
- Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus
- International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Upper Mississippi River Congressional Caucus
- Congressional Arts Caucus
Kind's other (non-committee) titles are the Democratic Chief Deputy Whip, co-founder of both the Upper Mississippi River Congressional Caucus and the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus, and co-vice-chair of the New Democrat Coalition.
He is the House sponsor of the FIT Kids Act, federal legislation that would require school districts to report on students' physical activity and to give youngsters health and nutritional information.[2]
Kind has focused most of his time and effort on the Subcommittee of Health on health care issues within small business. As a member of the Natural Resources Committee, he has worked on a very important issue to his district which is the restoration of the Mississippi River; especially fighting off invasive species that could threaten the future of the river. He also concentrates on the problem of agriculture reform, for which he has received national recognition for his work in 2007.[3]
In interest group ratings from his time in office, Kind has supported women’s issues, poverty reform, veterans issues, social security, environmental issues, education, and civil rights.[4]
Political campaigns[link]
1996[link]
Kind was first elected in Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district (map)[dead link] in November 1996. In September 1995, he had announced his intention to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat being vacated by 16-year incumbent Steve Gunderson. He later won a five-person race for the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat his Republican opponent, James Harsdorf 52 percent to 48 percent, becoming only the second Democrat to represent this district in the 20th century. Kind didn't face another contest nearly that close until 2010.
2004, 2006[link]
See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2006#3rd Congressional District
In 2004 he won with 57 percent of the vote and won with 65 percent of the vote in 2006 against Paul R. Nelson.
2008[link]
In 2008 he won with 63 percent of the vote.
2010[link]
In 2010 he won with 50 percent of the vote against former State Senator Dan Kapanke.
Personal life[link]
Kind and his wife, Tawni, live in his hometown of La Crosse. She is an official court reporter for the County Court system. They have two sons, Johnny (born in August 1996) and Matthew (born in May 1998). They are members of Immanuel Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod).[5]
Kind is a member of the La Crosse Optimists Club, a leader in the Boys and Girls Club, and the La Crosse YMCA. He is also on the board of directors for Coulee Council on Alcohol or Other Drug Abuse. His wife organizes the annual Congressional Art Competition for high school artists in western Wisconsin.[6]
References[link]
- ^ a b c d [1][dead link]
- ^ NFL Players Promoted Increased Physical Education ESPN, March 19, 2009
- ^ "Congressman Ron Kind : About Ron". Kind.house.gov. http://www.kind.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=2§iontree=2. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ "Project Vote Smart - Representative Ronald James 'Ron' Kind - Interest Group Ratings". Votesmart.org. 2010-05-14. http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=630#How. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ http://www.kind.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=2§iontree=2
- ^ "Elect Ron Kind for Congress - Wisconsin Third Congressional District". Ronkind.org. http://www.ronkind.org/News.cfm. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
External links[link]
- U.S. Congressman Ron Kind official U.S. House website
- Ron Kind for Congress official campaign website
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Profile at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Steve Gunderson |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district 1997–present |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Rubén Hinojosa D-Texas |
United States Representatives by seniority 124th |
Succeeded by Dennis Kucinich D-Ohio |
|
|||||||||||
| Representatives to the 105th–112th United States Congresses from Wisconsin (ordered by seniority) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 105th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | S. Klug | T. Barrett | M. Neumann | J. W. Johnson | R. Kind |
| 106th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 107th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | T. Barrett | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 108th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | J. Kleczka | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan |
| 109th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | M. Green | P. Ryan | G. Moore |
| 110th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 111th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Feingold | House: D. Obey | J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Kagen |
| 112th | Senate: H. Kohl | R. Johnson | House: J. Sensenbrenner | T. Petri | R. Kind | T. Baldwin | P. Ryan | G. Moore | S. Duffy | R. Ribble |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kind, Ron |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | 1963-03-16 |
| Place of birth | La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Ron_Kind
Related pages:
http://de.wn.com/Ron Kind
http://it.wn.com/Ron Kind
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kind
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other people with similar names, see Thomas Thompson (disambiguation).
| Tommy Thompson | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 19th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services | |
| In office February 2, 2001 – January 26, 2005 |
|
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Donna Shalala |
| Succeeded by | Mike Leavitt |
| 42nd Governor of Wisconsin | |
| In office January 5, 1987 – February 1, 2001 |
|
| Lieutenant | Scott McCallum |
| Preceded by | Tony Earl |
| Succeeded by | Scott McCallum |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tommy George Thompson (1941-11-19) November 19, 1941 (age 70) Elroy, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Sue Ann Mashak (m. 1968) |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Wisconsin Law School |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Rank | Captain |
Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941), a United States Republican politician, was the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, after which he served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Thompson was a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, but dropped out early after a poor performance in polls.[1] He is currently running for the United States Senate election in 2012.[2]
Contents |
Early life, education, and military service[link]
Thompson was born in Elroy, Wisconsin, where his father, Allan, owned and ran a gas station and country grocery store, and his mother, Julia, was a teacher.[3] He is a former captain in the United States Army and United States Army Reserve, and holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Early political career (1966-1987)[link]
Wisconsin Assembly[link]
Thompson was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1966; he became the Assembly's assistant minority leader in 1973 and minority leader in 1981. He was famous for aggressively utilizing parliamentary procedure to give his minority party some limited say in the legislative process. Since this use of procedure was invariably one of delay and obstruction, he soon received the nickname "Dr. No" by the frustrated majority.[neutrality is disputed]
1979 congressional election[link]
Incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman William Steiger of Wisconsin's 6th congressional district died at the age of 40 from a heart attack. There was a special election in 1979. In the February 1979 Republican primary, he was defeated by Tom Petri 35%-19%.[4] Petri won the general election and still represents the 6th district today.
Governor of Wisconsin (1987-2001)[link]
Thompson served as the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, having been elected to an unprecedented four terms. While serving as governor, he was elected Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association in 1989 and 1990.
The American Legislative Exchange Council identifies Thompson in the form of one of its success stories, being important to the organization in its formative years.[5]
Elections[link]
- 1986
See also: United States gubernatorial elections, 1986, United States gubernatorial elections, 1990, United States gubernatorial elections, 1994, and United States gubernatorial elections, 1998
Thompson decided to run for Governor of Wisconsin in 1986 against incumbent Democrat Anthony Earl. He ran and won the Republican primary with 52% of the vote in a five candidate field.[6] He defeated Earl 53%-46%.[7]
- 1990
Thompson won re-election to a second term defeating Democrat Thomas Loftus, the Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, 58%-42%.[8]
- 1994
Thompson won re-election to a third term defeating Democrat State Senator Chuck Chvala 67%-31%. He won every county in the state except Menominee County.[9]
- 1998
Thompson won re-election to a fourth term defeating Democrat Ed Garvey, the Wisconsin Deputy Attorney General, 60%-39%.[10]
Tenure[link]
Thompson's initiatives during his 14 years as governor of Wisconsin were his Wisconsin Works welfare reform and school choice programs.[11] In 1990 Thompson pushed for the creation of the country's first parental school-choice program, allowing low-income Milwaukee families to send children to the private or public school of their choice at taxpayer expense. He created the BadgerCare program, designed to provide health coverage to those families whose employers don't provide health insurance but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. Through the federal waiver program, Thompson helped replicate this program in several states when he became Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Post-gubernatorial career[link]
Health and Human Services Secretary[link]
Thompson left office when he was appointed by President George W. Bush as HHS Secretary. Thompson announced his resignation from HHS on December 3, 2004, and served until January 26, 2005, when the Senate confirmed his successor, Michael O. Leavitt.
Business career[link]
He was a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors and had an Amtrak locomotive named for him.[12][13][14]
Thompson is a partner at Akin Gump, a Washington, D.C., law firm, and was formerly senior adviser at the consulting firm Deloitte and formerly the independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.[15] Thompson taught a class in the fall of 2005 at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government on medical diplomacy.[16]
Shortly after leaving his Bush Cabinet post, Thompson joined and served for two years on the board of directors of Applied Digital Solutions, makers of the controversial VeriChip: a glass-encapsulated RFID chip that can be injected into human flesh for various database-driven identification purposes.
He was formerly the co-host for their television series, Plain Talk About Health.[17]
2008 Presidential campaign[link]
Main article: Tommy Thompson presidential campaign, 2008
After first announcing the formation of an exploratory committee in late 2006, Thompson announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election on April 1, 2007.[18]
During a May 3, 2007, presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Thompson said in response to a question from moderator Chris Matthews that a private employer opposed to homosexuality should have the right to fire a gay worker.[19] He said, "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be." He called CNN the following morning to say he didn't hear the question correctly. He apologized, saying, "It's not my position. There should be no discrimination in the workplace."
Thompson had stated he would drop out of the race if he did not finish either first or second in the Ames straw poll on August 11, 2007. Thompson finished sixth, with just 7% of the vote, despite the fact that some major contenders were not competing in the poll. On August 12, Thompson officially announced he would drop out of the race.
In October 2007, Thompson endorsed Rudy Giuliani. Thompson told the Associated Press in a statement that "Rudy Giuliani has shown that he is a true leader. He can and will win the nomination and the presidency. He is America's mayor, and during a period of time of great stress for this country he showed tremendous leadership." He then endorsed Senator John McCain after Giuliani's withdrawal from the presidential race.[20] However, in a New York Times article published October 11, 2008, Thompson is quoted in response to a question regarding whether he was happy with McCain's campaign as saying, "No. I don't know who is."[21]
2012 U.S. Senate election[link]
Main article: United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2012
On September 19, 2011, Thompson officially launched his campaign to run for the Wisconsin senate seat vacated by Sen. Herb Kohl.[22] On December 1, 2011, he formally announced his candidacy.
Criticism[link]
Medicare controversies[link]
After leaving office, Thompson promoted changes to Medicare that some complained would benefit companies Thompson has a financial stake in (including Centene and the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions).[23]
Additionally, while in office, Thompson was involved in a dispute over whether the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services had to share cost estimates to Congress for legislation that would create a prescription drug benefit. Critics accused HHS of downplaying the true cost of the law by $150 billion. CMS Administrator Tom Scully threatened to fire the actuary if he revealed to Congress his estimate. Investigators determined that the data was improperly hidden from Congress, but did not conclude whether laws had been broken.[24]
Treatment of Ojibwa spearfishers[link]
During his 1986 gubernatorial campaign, Thompson suggested abrogating the right of Wisconsin's Ojibwa tribe to engage in traditional spearfishing.[25] Once in office, Thompson called on the tribe to sell their rights to spearfish in off-reservation lakes and streams, which is guaranteed by treaties with the United States, for $42 million dollars to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and $10 million to the Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.[25] Thompson and anti-spearfishing organizations Protect Americans' Rights and Resources and Stop Treaty Abuse-Wisconsin tried unsuccessfully to challenge the 1983 "Voigt Decision" of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals—which prohibited Wisconsin from regulating fishing on Ojibwe land.[25] The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1983.[25][26] Thompson claimed that Native Americans' lives were in danger from protesters associated with PARR and STA if they continued spearfishing. In 1989, federal judge Barbara Crabb refused the request and chastised the state for attempting to avoid violence by punishing the Ojibwa, who had broken no laws, since it was violence by non-Native American protesters that was threatening.[26] Crabb issued an injunction against violent anti-spearfishing protests in 1991, and made it permanent in 1992.[27] On May 20, 1991, the Thompson administration declared it would no longer attempt to appeal the 1983 Voight Decision.[25]
Statements about Jews, Israel[link]
In April 2007, Thompson was compelled to apologize for remarks he made about Jews and Israel during an address to an assembled crowd of Jewish social activists in Washington, D.C.[28] On April 18, 2007, appearing before a conference organized by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Thompson made reference to his lucrative transition from public service to the private sector by stating: "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."[29] After the conclusion of his address, Thompson was reportedly pulled aside privately by the RAC's Rabbi David Saperstein, and then returned to the podium to issue a clarification,[30] adding: "I just want to clarify something because I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things. What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."[29]
Later, Thompson told Politico that his remarks could be blamed on fatigue and a persistent cold.[28]
Thompson made a variety of other lesser gaffes, including referring to the Anti Defamation League as the fringe Jewish Defense League, and to Israel bonds as "Jewish bonds".[31][32][33] He also discussed his connections to politically conservative Israeli and Jewish leaders while speaking to the mostly liberal leaning group.[31]
Conference organizers avoided comment on the faux pas, instead praising Thompson's decision to appear before the group.[34]
Politicizing of science[link]
In 2001, early in his term as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Thompson's office rejected 19 of 26 people recommended for seats on the advisory board for the NIH developing nations unit, including a Nobel laureate, by the unit's director.[35] In return, Thompson's office sent résumés for other scientists that Gerald Keusch, the director of the Fogarty International Center, described in an interview as "lightweights" with "no scientific credibility". Keusch relayed to the Nobel laureate, Torsten Wiesel, that he was rejected for having "signed too many full-page letters in The New York Times critical of President Bush." [36] This incident was cited by the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists as part of a report detailing their allegations of politicization of science under President George W. Bush's administration.[37][38]
Electoral history[link]
| Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 1998 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tommy Thompson (incumbent) | 1,047,716 | 59.66 | ||
| Democratic | Ed Garvey | 679,553 | 38.70 | ||
| Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 1994 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tommy Thompson (incumbent) | 1,051,326 | 67.23 | ||
| Democratic | Chuck Chvala | 482,850 | 30.88 | ||
| Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 1990 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tommy Thompson (incumbent) | 802,321 | 58.15 | ||
| Democratic | Thomas A. Loftus | 576,280 | 41.77 | ||
| Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 1986 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tommy Thompson | 805,090 | 52.74 | ||
| Democratic | Tony Earl (incumbent) | 705,578 | 46.22 | ||
| Wisconsin Gubernatorial Election 1986 - Republican Primary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Tommy Thompson | 156,875 | 52.11 | ||
| Republican | Jonathan Barry | 67,114 | 22.30 | ||
| Republican | George Watts | 58,424 | 19.41 | ||
| U.S. House Wisconsin 6th District Special Election 1979 - Republican Primary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Thomas Petri | 22,293 | 35.25 | ||
| Republican | Tommy Thompson | 11,850 | 18.74 | ||
| Republican | Jack Steinhilber | 11,810 | 18.68 | ||
| Republican | Kenneth Benson | 10,965 | 17.34 | ||
| Republican | Donald Jones | 5,077 | 8.02 | ||
| Republican | Richard Wright | 844 | 1.33 | ||
| Republican | John Gregory | 395 | .62 | ||
References[link]
- ^ "Tommy Thompson drops presidential bid". Associated Press. 2007-08-12. http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TOMMY_THOMPSON_2008?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-08-13-11-36-42. Retrieved 2007-08-13. [dead link]
- ^ "Poll: Thompson leads Baldwin in US Senate race". Mansfield News Journal. February 22, 2012. http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/usatoday/article/38632877?odyssey=mod. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
- ^ "Ancestry of Tommy Thompson". Wargs.com. 1941-11-19. http://www.wargs.com/political/thompsont.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=415656
- ^ http://www.alec.org/about-alec/history/
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=455938
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=218406
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=218405
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=51033
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=235
- ^ "Highlights at the Wisconsin Historical Society.". Wisconsinhistory.org. 2008-05-14. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2008/05/w2.asp. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ "Amtrak A. Vital Link in America's Transportation Future". United States Department of Health and Human Services. 2001-11-01. http://www.hhs.gov/news/speech/2001/011101.html. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
- ^ "Pictures of P42 Genesis #182". Hebners.net. http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/amtGEN42_169_183.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ "Claytor award". Findarticles.com. 2001. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1215/is_9_202/ai_78840332. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ Bio: Tommy Thompson, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions
- ^ Thompson, Tommy G. "The cure for tyranny" Boston Globe, October 24, 2005
- ^ "Medical Missions for Children Board of Trustees". Mmissions.org. http://www.mmissions.org/mmc/board.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ "GOP's Tommy Thompson Enters '08 Race". American Broadcasting Company. 2007-04-01. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2998796. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
- ^ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: JS Online: PoliticsWatch [dead link]
- ^ John McCain 2008
- ^ Nagourney, Adam; Bumiller, Elisabeth (October 11, 2008). "Concern in G.O.P. After Rough Week for McCain". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/us/politics/12strategy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ "Tommy Thompson plans to run for Senate. - Mike Allen and Edward-Isaac Dovere". Politico.Com. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55108.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ "Thompson's Medicaid Reforms Benefit His Employers". Washington Post. 2006-08-08. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701088.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ Pear, Robert (2004-07-07). "Top Medicare Official Threatened Actuary". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B02E0D9143BF934A35754C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ a b c d e "Milwaukee Public Museum, "Spearfishing Controversy"". Mpm.edu. http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-112.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
- ^ a b Roller, Scott F. (May 18, 2006) "Curators' Favorites: Anti-spearfishing Concrete Walleye Decoy" Wisconsin Historical Museum archived from the original on October 4, 2011 http://www.webcitation.org/62CRNdrRU. Retrieved Octobrer 4, 2011
- ^ Faber, Daniel J. (1998) The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States Guilford Press p. 283 http://books.google.com/books?id=3S2MHvNCz_cC&pg=PA283&dq=crabb+permanent+injunction+1992&hl=en&ei=UeSLTqjGFYSosQK2zM2wBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=crabb%20permanent%20injunction%201992&f=false. Retrieved October 4, 2011
- ^ a b Martin, Jonathan (April 17, 2007). "T. Thompson Apologizes For Jewish Remark". Politico. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62CbM7olG. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ a b Frommer, Frederic J. (April 17, 2007). "Thompson apologizes for Jewish comments". MSNBC. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62Car78mQ. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ "Tommy Thompson: "Earning Money" Is "Part of the Jewish Tradition"". The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62Cb52dKc. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ a b Rosner, Shmuel (April 17, 2007). "Friendly advice to American candidates trying to woo the Jewish vote". Haaretz. http://web.archive.org/web/20071001150217/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=849067.
- ^ "Candidate: Making money part of Jewish tradition". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62Cbvaxxo. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ Gilbert, Craig (April 16, 2007). "Thompson apologizes to Jews for comments". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070824194526/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=591756.
- ^ Rosner, Shmuel (April 16, 2007). "Republican presidential hopeful: Money-making a Jewish tradition". Haaretz. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62CfRM6ZV. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (July 9, 2004). "Scientists Say They Were Questioned on Politics". New York Times. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62CTdaWGs.
- ^ Lane, Earl. "Group says that Bush undermines science for politics". Seattle Times. Newsday. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62CUQsQ86.
- ^ Emma Marris (14 July 2004). "Bush accused of trying to foist favourites on health agency". Nature 430 (281): 281. DOI:10.1038/430281a. PMID 15254502. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v430/n6997/full/430281a.html.
- ^ Seth Shulman (2007). Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration. University of California Press.
External links[link]
- Official sites
- Documentaries, topic pages and databases
- Federal Election Commission - Tommy G. Thompson (President) campaign finance reports
- On the Issues - Tommy Thompson issue positions and quotes
- PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - Vote 2008: Tommy Thompson
- "Tommy Thompson and the Conservative Revolution"; primary source material compiled by the Wisconsin Historical Society
- Tommy Thompson at the Open Directory Project
- Tommy G. Thompson Collection, 1957-ongoing Special Collections & Archives, Marquette University (archive of materials donated by Thompson and others)
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Media coverage
- New York Times - Tommy G. Thompson news stories and commentary
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tony Earl |
Governor of Wisconsin 1987–2001 |
Succeeded by Scott McCallum |
| Preceded by Howard Dean Vermont |
Chairman of the National Governors Association 1995–1996 |
Succeeded by Bob Miller Nevada |
| Preceded by Donna Shalala |
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Served under: George W. Bush 2001–2005 |
Succeeded by Michael O. Leavitt |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Thompson, Tommy G. |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | November 19, 1941 |
| Place of birth | Elroy, Wisconsin |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Tommy_Thompson
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http://de.wn.com/Tommy Thompson
http://pl.wn.com/Tommy Thompson
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Thompson
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
