Mike Pence
Chairman of the House Republican Conference
In office January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011
Leader	John Boehner
Preceded by	Adam Putnam
Succeeded by	Jeb Hensarling
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 6th District
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Dan Burton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd District
In office January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	David M. McIntosh
Succeeded by	Chris Chocola
Personal details
Born	Michael Richard Pence (1959-06-07) June 7, 1959 (age 53) Columbus, Indiana
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Karen Pence
Residence	Columbus, Indiana
Alma mater	Hanover College, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (J.D.)
Occupation	Attorney, Talk Show Host
Religion	Evangelical Christian

Michael Richard "Mike" Pence (born June 7, 1959) is the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 6th district, and previously the 2nd district, serving since 2001. The 6th district covers much of Eastern Indiana. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Pence is the former Chairman of the House Republican Conference.^[1] After the 2010 election Pence said he would not run for re-election to Chairman of the Conference.^[2] On May 5, 2011, Pence officially announced that he will be seeking the Republican nomination for Governor of Indiana in 2012.^[3] Pence's announcement was anticipated by his resignation of his leading position in the GOP caucus in the House. He is considered the favorite for the Republican nomination.^[4]

Early life, education and career[link]

Mike Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana. He attended Columbus North High School, graduated from Hanover College in 1981, and earned his J.D. from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1986. While at Hanover, Pence joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, serving as his chapter's president.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Pence and his wife Karen have three children: Michael, Charlotte, and Audrey. Michael is a student at Purdue University. Pence is a declared Christian and attends Community Church of Greenwood in Greenwood, Indiana. The Pence family lives in Arlington, Virginia while Congress is in session.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia (Vice Chair)
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on the Constitution (Vice Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet

Caucus memberships[link]

• Congressional Internet Caucus
• International Conservation Caucus
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Tea Party Caucus

Political positions[link]

He is the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans. He was succeeded in the 110th Congress by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). He has stated his support of Israel and its right to attack facilities in Iran to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, has defended the actions of Israel in its use of deadly force in enforcing the blockade of Gaza and has referred to Israel as "America's most cherished ally"^[6] Pence claims to have been influenced by Traditionalist Russell Kirk and holds some views that are in line with Traditionalist Conservatism and Burkean philosophy.

Fiscal issues[link]

Spending limits[link]

Pence is a cosponsor of a Spending Limit Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment would limit federal spending to one-fifth of the American economy - the historical average since WWII.^[7]

Hurricane Katrina[link]

In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana coast and in the midst of the clean up, Pence called a press conference announcing $24 billion in spending cuts, saying "... [W]e must not let Katrina break the bank.^[8]

Earmarks[link]

Pence was a supporter of earmark reform. He voted against the $139.7 billion Transportation-Treasury spending bill in June 2006, and in favor of a series of amendments proposed that same month by Jeff Flake that would strip other members’ earmarks from the federal budget. Pence, however, has in the past secured several of his own earmark projects. Pence earmarked $500,000 for the “Transit Acquisition and Intermodal Facility Project” in his state, as well as $250,000 for construction of a park in Portland, Indiana. Pence also secured earmarks for inclusion in a Labor-Health and Human Services 2007FY bill. This included $200,000 for both Ball State University’s Center for School Innovation in Muncie, Ind. and to the Madison County Community Health Center in Anderson Ind. Pence also secured $100,000 for Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus, Ind. When confronted with this, a spokesman for Pence’s confirmed the projects, stating, “Mr. Pence stands by his earmark requests."^[9]

Civil liberties and social issues[link]

Fairness Doctrine[link]

Recently, Pence has urged House Democrats to sign a petition to discharge the Broadcaster Freedom Act, a bill that would outlaw restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. Pence believes that the Fairness Doctrine would "censor the airwaves of American talk radio and American Christian radio".^[10]

Online gambling[link]

Pence is an advocate of federal restrictions of online gambling. In 2006, he along with 34 others cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act^[11] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[12]

Immigration reform[link]

In June 2006, Pence unveiled a plan he describes as "no amnesty immigration reform" consisting of increased border security, followed by strict enforcement of laws against hiring illegal aliens, and a guest worker program. This guest worker program requires potential participants to apply from their home country to government-approved job placement agencies that match workers with employers who cannot find Americans for the job.^[13] The plan has received support from conservative leaders such as Dick Armey.^[14] Pat Buchanan described this as "stealth amnesty," claiming that it is merely a "one week vacation" for illegal immigrants to return to their home country to apply for jobs under the program.^[15] Others (Phyllis Schlafly and Tom Tancredo) have criticized Pence's plan.^[16][17]

Religious views[link]

Pence grew up attending Catholic schools in an Irish Catholic family. However, it was not until college that he had a spiritual awakening. There, Pence said he met young men and women who talked about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.^[18] Congressman Pence describes himself as "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order."^[19] However, his views on the origin of species are "mixed" and "an open question." ^{[20] [21]}

Marriage and family issues[link]

Pence has referred to Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin's findings that throughout history, societal collapse was brought about by the deterioration of marriage and family.^[22] Based on Sorokin's findings and his faith, Pence supports the Defense of Marriage Act.

Foreign policy and national security[link]

Iraq Resolution[link]

Pence supported the joint resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, otherwise known as the Iraq Resolution.^[23] The resolution cited factors including Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 ceasefire agreement, including interference with U.N. weapons inspectors, Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population," and Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the 1993 assassination attempt on former President George H. W. Bush and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War as reasons for taking action.^[24]

Visit to Iraq[link]

During the Iraq War, he opposed setting a public withdrawal date from Iraq. During an April 2007 visit to Baghdad, Pence and John McCain visited Shorja market, the site of a deadly attack in February, 2007, that claimed the lives of 61 people. During the visit, Pence and Senator John McCain were accompanied by General David Petraeus. Pence and McCain described the visit as evidence that the security situation in Iraqi markets have improved. Pence said he was deeply moved by his ability to "mix and mingle unfettered among ordinary Iraqis" and to have tea and haggle over the price of a rug. The Shorja market, he said, was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summer time."^[25] The visit was criticized by the New York Times as giving a false indication of how secure the area was due to the extremely heavy security forces McCain brought with him. The visit to the market took place under large security including helicopters overhead.^[26]

Guantanamo Bay detention camp[link]

Mike Pence is opposed to shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and trying the suspected terrorists in the US. He believes that trying detainees inside the United States puts “international public relations ahead of public safety and makes a mockery of American justice”.^[27] Pence believes that “the Obama administration must overturn this wrongheaded decision”.^[27] As an alternative, Pence has said that the "enemy combatants" should be tried in a military tribunal.^[27]

Political campaigns[link]

Congressional campaigns[link]

Pence ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990, losing to longtime Democratic incumbent Phil Sharp with the direct endorsement of President Ronald Reagan. Many considered Pence's political future dead at that point.

In 2000, however, Pence was elected after six-year incumbent David M. McIntosh opted to run for governor of Indiana. His first term in Congress began in January 2001. The 6th District comprises all or portions of 19 counties in eastern Indiana, and was numbered as the 2nd District during his first term in Congress. He has been reelected four more times by comfortable margins. In the 2006 House elections, he defeated Democrat Barry Welsh. He was listed as one of the top ten legislators by Esquire magazine in 2008.^[28]

2010

Pence had been encouraged by William Kristol of The Weekly Standard,^[29] among others, to run in 2010 against incumbent Democratic Senator Evan Bayh.^[30][31] Pence led Senator Bayh by a 3 point margin according to Rasmussen polling done on January 21 and 24, 2010.^[32] On January 26, 2010, in an open letter to friends and supporters through Facebook, Pence announced his decision not to run for the Senate; he cited his role in the Republican leadership and the belief that Republicans would win back the House in 2010 as his reasons for staying in the House of Representatives.^[33]

House Republican leadership campaigns[link]

2006

On November 8, 2006, Mike Pence announced his candidacy for leader of the Republican Party (minority leader) in the United States House of Representatives.^[34]

Pence's release announcing his run for minority leader focused on a "return to the values" of the 1994 Republican Revolution.^[35] He said regarding the Contract with America: "Our opponents will say that the American people rejected our Republican vision. I say the American people didn't quit on the Contract with America, we did. And in so doing, we severed the bonds of trust between our party and millions of our most ardent supporters..."^[35]

Some political analysts, such as Robert D. Novak, say Pence benefited in the long run from the endorsement of numerous organizations and individuals aligned with the party's base. Some of those include Human Events,^[36] Laura Ingraham,^[37] and Rush Limbaugh.^[38] Ingraham stated on her show, "If there is a God in heaven, (Pence) will be the next House minority leader."^[37] Pence also received support from the Club for Growth, The Wall Street Journal and David Keene from the American Conservative Union.

On November 17, Pence lost to Representative John Boehner of Ohio by a vote of 168-27-1 (the one vote went to Representative Joe Barton of Texas).^[39]

2008

After defeating Rev. Barry Welsh in the 2008 House election, Pence was elected by his GOP colleagues to become the Republican Conference Chairman, the third-highest-ranking Republican leadership position. He ran unopposed and was elected unanimously. He is the first Representative from Indiana to hold a House leadership position since 1981.^[1]

Potential presidential campaigns[link]

Mike Pence was mentioned as a possible candidate for President in 2008, but he didn't run. In June 2009, an MSNBC political blog listed him as one of a dozen or so possible Republican candidates for President in 2012.^[40] In September 2010, Pence was the top choice for President in a straw poll conducted by the Value Voters Summit.^[41]

Pence announced that he would not run for president in the 2012 elections on January 27, 2011.^[42]

References[link]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Mike Pence Official Biography".

External links[link]

• U.S. Congressman Mike Pence official U.S. House site
• Mike Pence 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
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• 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
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Mike Pence in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Truth-O-Meter Profile at PolitiFact.com
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Candidate information from Our Campaigns
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Pence, January 22, 2006

This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2011)

Chris Matthews
Matthews at the 2011 Time 100 Gala.
Born	Christopher John Matthews (1945-12-17) December 17, 1945 (age 66) Somerton, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Ethnicity	Irish
Education	College of the Holy Cross
Occupation	News anchor and political commentator
Notable credit(s)	Hardball with Chris Matthews The Chris Matthews Show
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Kathleen Matthews
Relatives	Montgomery County, PA County Commissioner Jim Matthews (brother)

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American news anchor and political commentator known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC News–produced panel discussion program The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews makes frequent appearances on many other NBC and MSNBC programs. On March 22, 2009, Matthews renewed the contract for Hardball with Chris Matthews through 2012.^[1]

Early life and education[link]

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irish American parents and is a Roman Catholic.^[2] He attended La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[3][4]

Matthews served in the United States Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970^[5] as a trade development adviser.

Career[link]

Political career and views[link]

When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police.^[6] Subsequently, he served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary.^[7] Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration and later worked for six years as a top aide to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration.

Matthews in October 2007

Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am.... I voted for George W. in 2000."^[8] Salon.com has called him the "most conservative voice" on MSNBC's primetime lineup.^[9] Matthews has been accused by media watchdogs^[10] of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.^[11][12] Conversely, he is also often criticized by conservatives for his opposition to the Iraq War among other stances he took against the Bush administration.

On the April 14, 2008, edition of The Colbert Report, Matthews alluded to a possible run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania. When directly questioned by Stephen Colbert about his intentions, he stated that there is a difference between celebrities and those who work for the people, and it's a greater thing to work for the people. He also said that his boyhood dream was to be a senator. Four days later, on April 18, 2008, Matthews told Bill Maher that he has "made a commitment to covering politics in a liberal way, starting in 1987, and [he is] honoring that commitment, not getting involved in it."^[13] The seat in question was the one held by Sen. Arlen Specter, whose term in the Senate ended in January 2011. On November 28, 2008, Fivethirtyeight.com and The Politico reported that Matthews had been in contact with senior staffers of Barack Obama's campaign about a possible run.^[14][15] On January 7, 2009, The New York Times reported that Matthews told his staffers that he would not run for the Senate.^[16] On May 25, 2009 Chris Matthews appeared on Charlie Rose where he stated that he was intending to run for Specter's Senate seat in 2010, stating, "I could see myself winning the Democratic primary and I could see myself going on to face Arlen in the general [election]," but that he felt he had to decide between being a journalist and being a politician once Specter became a national figure by supporting the stimulus.

While discussing proposed healthcare reform on the December 17, 2009, edition of Hardball, Matthews stated, "The Republicans will know they have lost.... Let them keep score and it's easy. It's complicated when liberals get to keep score. We're always arguing. Well, I'm a liberal, too."^[17][18]

Author and talk show host[link]

Matthews during a special edition of Hardball

Matthews worked in print media for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner (1987–2000) and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his research in the National Archives produced a series of exclusives on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988.

In 1997, Matthews began his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is currently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests.

In 2002, The Chris Matthews Show began airing in syndication. The show is formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who serves as the moderator. He is estimated to earn more than $5 million a year. He also wrote a book called Hardball.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Matthews has been married since 1980 to Kathleen Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., before accepting a position as an executive vice president with J.W. Marriott. The couple have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican, is a county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.^{[citation needed]} He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.^[20]

Criticisms and controversy[link]

Matthews and his wife Kathleen at the 2010 Time 100 Gala.

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald has called Matthews "the most vivid example of all that is wrong with political coverage," saying "[H]e’s endlessly obsessed with personality-based politics and likes to promote the strong, masculine tough guy who you can have a beer with, versus the nerdy loser. And he has a cast of characters who go on his show, like Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, who gush over the maleness of the Republican candidates and warn Democrats about how that has real appeal to American voters. Most political reporters judge candidates on the basis of the likeability factor—Matthews is just more explicit about it."^[21]

Others have criticized Matthews for talking too much on air, not letting his guests talk, and often talking over and interrupting them. One who also worked in the Carter Administration has written: "Generally in those days Chris was a relatively quiet person around the White House, and in meetings or briefings would frequently say very little, or nothing at all. I guess he's making up for lost time—or 'lost talk'—now. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of his show, always fascinating without fail—at least if you're a political junkie."^[22]

The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America named Matthews its 2005 "Misinformer of the Year," citing statements he made in support of President George W. Bush.^[23]

On January 9, 2008, the morning after Hillary Clinton's surprise victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Matthews appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program and said of Clinton,

The comments were criticized by such media figures as Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar, and Gloria Steinem.^[24][26][27] They also resulted in protests outside NBC's Washington, D.C., studios as well as a joint letter of complaint to NBC from the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, and the National Women's Political Caucus. Matthews apologized for the comments on the January 17, 2008, edition of Hardball.^[27]

After Matthews and Keith Olbermann made controversial on-air comments during the 2008 Republican National Convention, NBC News correspondent David Gregory replaced them, but Matthews and Olbermann continued working as analysts.^[28] On November 4–5, he teamed with Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, David Gregory, and Keith Olbermann to cover the presidential election.

On February 12, 2008, during MSNBC's coverage of the Potomac primary, Matthews had this to say about then presidential candidate Barack Obama:

This led some on the political right to assert that both he and MSNBC were biased toward Obama.^[30]

On November 6, 2008, he was a guest on the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, wherein he stated, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work." Host Joe Scarborough asked if that was his job as a journalist. "Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country," Matthews replied.^[31]

On December 1, 2009, preceding Obama's speech announcing a troop increase in Afghanistan, Matthews criticized the president for choosing the United States Military Academy as his venue, referring to it as "the enemy camp."^[32] Soon after, Matthews apologized for his remarks, saying, "[To] the cadets, their parents, former cadets, and everyone who cares about this country and those who defend it: I used the wrong words and worse than that I said something that is just not right and for that I deeply apologize."^[33]

In January 2010, in Matthews's comments after President Obama's first State of the Union Address, he said, "You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."^{[34][35][36][37][38]} The next day, on the Rachel Maddow show, Matthews clarified his remarks, saying, "I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year."^[39]

Bibliography[link]

• Matthews, Christopher (2011). Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-3508-9. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2007). Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success (1st ed. ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6528-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2002). American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4086-3. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2001). Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (1st ed. ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86236-0. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1999). Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told By One Who Knows the Game (1st Touchstone ed. ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84559-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1996). Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81030-1. 

References[link]