Jim Cooper
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Bob Clement
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 4th district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Al Gore
Succeeded by	Van Hilleary
Personal details
Born	(1954-07-19) July 19, 1954 (age 57) Nashville, Tennessee
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Martha Hayes
Children	Mary, Jamie, Hayes
Residence	Shelbyville, Tennessee (1983-c. 1995) Nashville, Tennessee (c. 1995-present)
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Oxford University Harvard Law School
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Episcopalian

Cooper with his wife Martha

James Hayes Shofner "Jim" Cooper (born July 19, 1954) is the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 5th congressional district (based in Nashville), serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and the Blue Dog Coalition. He previously represented Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1983 to 1995.

Early life, education, and law career[link]

Cooper was born in Nashville and raised in Shelbyville, Tennessee.^[1] He is the son of former governor Prentice Cooper and his wife Hortense.^[2] He is an Eagle Scout. Jim Cooper attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Chapter of the Chi Psi fraternity, a recipient of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, and earned a B.A. in history and economics. Cooper won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford, where he earned a B.A./M.A. in politics and economics in 1977. In 1980, he received a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

After getting his law degree, he spent two years working for the law firm Waller, Lansden, Dortch and Davis in Nashville, then ran for Congress in 1982.^[3]

U.S. House of Representatives (1982-1995)[link]

Elections[link]

Earlier photo of Cooper

In 1982, Cooper won the Democratic primary for the 4th District, which had been created when Tennessee gained a district after the 1980 census. The new 4th ran diagonally across the state, from heavily Republican areas near Tri-Cities, Knoxville and Chattanooga to the fringes of the Nashville suburbs. The district stretched across five media markets - the Tri-Cities (Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol), Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama - so the 1982 race had much of the feel of a statewide race. Owing to the district's demographics, many felt that whoever won the election would almost instantly become a statewide figure with a high potential for election to statewide office in the future. Cooper defeated Cissy Baker, an editor in Washington for the Cable News Network and the daughter of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker^[4] with 66 percent of the vote. He was reelected five more times with little substantive opposition, running unopposed in 1986 and 1988. This was somewhat surprising, given the district's volatile demographics. The district, then as now, was split between areas with strong Democratic and Republican voting histories. Indeed, prior to Cooper's election, much of the eastern portion of the 4th hadn't been represented by a Democrat since the Civil War. However, the size of the district makes it extremely difficult to unseat an incumbent.

Tenure[link]

Cooper has always been a staunch supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the movement to loosen federal gun laws, and during his 1984 election campaign, the NRA donated a sum to his campaign that approached the legal limit of $10,000.^[5]

In 1992 Cooper was co-author of a bipartisan health-care reform plan, that did not include employer mandates compelling universal coverage. This initiative met with strong opposition from Hillary Clinton.^[6]

In 1990, Cooper was one of only three House Democrats who voted against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.^[7] On several occasions, however, he found himself having to explain his votes to his somewhat conservative constituents.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009 the Wall Street Journal wrote about Cooper's concerns about the national deficit. “It's even worse than most people think, he says, because of dodgy accounting used by the federal government...'The U.S. government uses cash accounting,' he says. 'That is illegal for any enterprise of any size in America except for the U.S. government.'”^[8] He made similar remarks on PBS, saying that 'The real deficit in America is at least twice as large as any politician will tell you. And it may be ten times larger.'”^[9]

Committee assignments[link]

During his first period in Congress, he served on the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce^[10][11][12]

1994 U.S. Senate election[link]

In 1994, Cooper ran for the Senate seat vacated by Al Gore's election to the Vice Presidency, but was soundly defeated by Republican attorney and actor Fred Thompson. Cooper received just under 40 percent of the vote. It was a bad year overall for Democrats in Tennessee, as Republican Bill Frist captured Tennessee's other Senate seat and Don Sundquist was elected governor. The 4th district seat was also won by a Republican, Van Hilleary, as the GOP gained a majority of the state's congressional delegation for only the second time since Reconstruction.

Inter-congressional years (1995-2002)[link]

After losing his Senate bid, Cooper moved to Nashville and went into private business, also serving as a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

U.S. House of Representatives (2002-Present)[link]

Elections[link]

2002

When Thompson opted not to run for a second full Senate term in 2002, 5th District U.S. Congressman Bob Clement ran for Thompson's seat, resulting in the first open-seat race in the 5th District since a 1987 special election. Cooper entered the Democratic primary along with several other prominent local Democrats. Having not won the district since 1874, Republicans had long since given up on it; the last serious GOP bid for the 5th had been in 1972. It was generally understood that whoever won the Democratic primary was all but assured of victory in November. Cooper won the primary with 44 percent of the vote, all but assuring his return to Congress after an eight-year absence. Cooper defeated opponent Craig Schelske in the general election by an overwhelming margin.

2004

Cooper was re-elected in 2004 against a Republican who disavowed his party's national ticket.

2006

In the 2006 election, Cooper faced Tom Kovach, the state public relations coordinator for the Constitution Party, who ran as a Republican since the Constitution Party did not have ballot access in Tennessee at the time. No one opposed Kovach for the Republican nomination. Cooper defeated Kovach by 41 points.

2008

On Election Day 2008, Cooper easily won re-election with 66 percent of the vote, defeating Republican John Gerard Donovan and Independent Jon "Trailerpark" Jackson, who garnered 31 percent and 2 percent respectively.^[13]

2010

Cooper defeated Republican David Hall on November 2, 2010, with 57 percent of the vote to Hall's 42 percent.^[14]

Tenure[link]

Cooper is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the New Democrat Coalition and generally has a moderate voting record. Cooper is the only Tennessean on the Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Despite the different policy affiliation, he became one of Barack Obama's earliest Congressional endorsers.^[15] Cooper opposed an $819 billion economic stimulus plan that passed the House in 2009,^[16] but ended up voting for the revised $787 billion final package.^[17] He is one of only a few Blue Dog members that don't seek earmarks.^[18][19] Cooper voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010.^[20]

In July 2011, Cooper was one of five Democrats to vote for the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act.^[21]

In 2011, Rep. Cooper became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act. ^[22]

Criticism of Congress

Cooper spoke with Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig about the subject of reforming Congress.^[23] According to Lessig, Cooper explained that members of Congress were were so preoccupied with the question of what they would do after leaving Congress – the most obvious career path being lobbying – that they fell into the habit of thinking about how to serve special interests rather than how to serve the public.^[23] According to Lessig, Cooper described Congress as a "Farm League for K Street".^[24][23]

In 2011, Cooper said: “Working in this Congress is deeply frustrating; in fact, it's enraging. My colleagues are misbehaving. They're posturing for voters back home. They're taking the cheap political hit instead of studying the problem that's before us.”^[25] In the same year, Cooper “called the partisan posturing over the debt ceiling 'an extremely dangerous game of chicken,' and said he’d 'never seen politicians act more irresponsibly than they have been recently,' over the nation’s debt.”^[26]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency and Financial Management
  • Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending
  • Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Arts Caucus

Personal life[link]

In 1985 Cooper married Martha Bryan Hays.^[27] They have three children.^[28] Cooper's daughter Mary is the sitting Student Body President at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ^[29] Cooper's son Hayes attends Groton School.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jim Cooper

• U.S. Representative Jim Cooper official House site
• Jim Cooper 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
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Liberadio(!) audio Interview
• "Jim Cooper Gets the Treatment: A Blue Dog Barks Back" Interview with Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic, April 2, 2009
• The Last Moderate, Joe Nocera, The New York Times, September 5, 2011

Chuck Todd
Chuck Todd in 2006
Born	Charles David Todd (1972-04-08) April 8, 1972 (age 40) Miami, Florida, USA
Education	George Washington University
Occupation	NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director Contributing Editor to Meet the Press, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Spouse	Kristian Denny Todd
Children	Daughter: Margaret Todd, Son: Harrison Todd
Website
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17814579/

Charles David “Chuck” Todd (born April 8, 1972)^[1] is an American journalist, Chief White House Correspondent and political director for NBC News, and contributing editor to Meet the Press.^[2] He is an occasional contributor to other news outlets, including The Atlantic.

Career[link]

Political campaigns[link]

Before coming to the world of political reporting and analysis, Todd earned practical political experience on initiative campaigns in Florida and various national campaigns based in Washington, D.C.^[3] While in college, Todd worked for the 1992 presidential campaign of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and later started part time at The Hotline.

[edit] The Hotline

From 1992 until March 12, 2007, Todd worked for National Journal's The Hotline, where he was editor-in-chief for six years.^[4] As part of his position, Todd also co-hosted, with John Mercurio, the webcast series Hotline TV, consisting of a daily show lasting between three and seven minutes and a weekly show ranging between 20 and 30 minutes. He became a frequent guest on political discussion shows, such as Hardball with Chris Matthews and Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff.

NBC News[link]

Tim Russert brought Todd to NBC from The Hotline in March 2007.^[4] He became NBC News’ political director at that time. After Russert's death, Todd was a candidate to replace him as the host of NBC's Meet the Press,^[5] but David Gregory was ultimately selected for the job.

As NBC News Political Director, Todd often provides on-air political analysis on political discussion shows, including Morning Joe, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and The Rachel Maddow Show^[4] and blogs for MSNBC.com at "First Read."^[6] He also does a weekly Question and Answer ("Q&A") session with users at Newsvine.

On December 18, 2008, NBC announced^[7] that Todd would succeed Gregory as NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, partnering with Savannah Guthrie on the news beat. He retained his title as NBC News Political Director and was also named Contributing Editor to Meet the Press.

Todd was a focus of an August 2008 Los Angeles Times article paralleling Todd's rise to the rise of cable news networks in coverage of U.S. politics.^[8] The article noted the emergence of Todd's fans, deemed "Chuckolytes".

Todd is also co-author, with Sheldon Gawiser, of How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election, published in 2009.^[9]

On July 6, 2009, former MSNBC television personality Dan Abrams launched a website service, Mediaite, reporting on media figures. The site ranks all TV-based journalists in America by influence. Todd ranks, as of October 2009, right before Mike Wallace as number five.^[10] As of December 21, 2011, Todd is number two.

On January 11, 2010, Todd became co-host, with Savannah Guthrie, of The Daily Rundown on MSNBC, weekday mornings from 9 to 10 a.m. ET.

On December 14, 2011, while on the set of Morning Joe, Todd was unaware that a camera was on him and he flipped his middle finger to someone off screen.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Todd was born in Miami, Florida. He attended George Washington University from 1990 to 1994; although he majored in political science and minored in music, he did not graduate.^[12] Todd is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.^[13] He resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Kristian Denny Todd, daughter Margaret, and son Harrison.^[14] Kristian Denny Todd is a Democratic operative and communications professional.^[14][15][16]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chuck Todd - NBC News Political Director
• First Read - MSNBC
• Chuck Todd on Twitter
• Appearances on C-SPAN