Ben Nelson
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Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17 1941 in McCook, Nebraska) to English-American parents. He is an American politician from Nebraska, where he was born and has lived for most of his life. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, and is now among the leading conservative Democrats in the Senate.
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Early life
Nelson earned a BA (1963), MA (1965), and JD (1970) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was an attorney and insurance executive winning his first elected office in 1990.
Political career
Governor
Nelson was elected governor as a Democrat in 1990, and was easily reelected in 1994. During his first race for governor, he ran against Kay A. Orr, the first elected Republican woman in Nebraska.
During the 1990 campaign, Nelson attacked Orr's record of tax increases and her support for a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in the state. As Governor, Nelson directed the Nebraska state Department of Environmental Quality to deny the dump's application for an operating license, prompting a law-suit which Nebraska settled for $145 million.
During his tenure in office, Nelson oversaw the only three executions in the state of Nebraska since the lifting of the moratorium in 1973.
Nelson ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1996 but was defeated by Republican Chuck Hagel. Nelson left the governor's office in 1999 after two terms, not running for reelection; he was succeeded by Republican Mike Johanns.
Election to the Senate
Nelson was again nominated by the Democrats for the Senate in 2000 after his fellow Democrat, incumbent Bob Kerrey, announced his retirement. Nelson won that election with 51% of the vote.
In November 2004, it was widely rumored that President Bush would choose Nelson as his agriculture secretary in the cabinet. However, these rumors proved to be untrue as the position went to Nelson's gubernatorial successor, Mike Johanns.
Political positions and votes
Cooperation with Republicans
On May 23, 2005, Nelson was one of fourteen Senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster one of President Bush's judicial nominees only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. Subsequently, he was the only Democratic senator to vote in favor of Brown; he was later the first Democratic senator to support Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Nelson also has voted twice, with three other Democrats, to end Senate debate over President Bush's UN Ambassador nominee John Bolton.
President Bush has nicknamed Nelson "The Benator." Originally, Bush nicknamed him "Nellie," but Nelson jokingly complained that he would prefer a "tougher" nickname.
Views on abortion
Nelson is one of several Democrats in the Senate (including Harry Reid) with a pro-life voting record. Nelson is a member of the Democrats for Life of America, a national organization for pro-life members of the Democratic party that advocates a 95% reduction in the number of abortions performed over the next 10 years. Despite his abortion stance often being compared to that of Minority Leader Reid, Reid has arguably taken a more moderate position on the issue than has Nelson, whose views on the subject are more in keeping with some of the Senate's pro-life Republicans. Nelson, unlike Reid, opposed legislation put forth by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that aimed to reduce the number of abortions by making sex education and contraceptives more available, putting Nelson in the same column as many conservative Republicans. Additionally, the extent to which Reid is pro-life is debatable.
Other votes
Nelson is perceived by most political observers as a moderate conservative. His votes have often placed him at odds with the leadership of his party. Democratic Party Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has said that Nelson is probably the most conservative Democrat in the Senate.
Nelson was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Nelson supports eliminating the estate tax and voted in favor of both the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. He has voted with Republicans on matters of bankruptcy reform, environmental protection, lawsuit reform, and trade. He has however voted consistently against drilling in ANWR and supports expanding use of the federal death penalty. He was one of only three Democratic senators to vote to invoke cloture on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment. Nelson has also voted against increasing funds for Head Start and energy assistance for people with low incomes.
He was the first Democrat to publicly support the nomination of Samuel Alito to be associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. When the vote was counted, he was one of only four Democrats to vote in favor of the nomination.
2006 re-election campaign
Template:Main Nelson is running for a second term in the Senate in 2006. Although Nebraska has traditionally been a very conservative state, Nelson's relatively conservative record has resulted in high approval ratings. The March 2006 Survey USA poll found him to be the 4th most popular senator in the country, with a 70% approval rating from his constituents [3]
There are three declared Republican candidates for the Senate seat:
- David Kramer - attorney, Nebraska Republican Party chairman [4]
- Pete Ricketts - former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ameritrade
- Don Stenberg - former Attorney General and the 2000 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate
External links
- Official website
- Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress
- 2006 campaign website
- Democrats for Life of America
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