Mitch McConnell

From Free net encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 03:18, 7 April 2006
67.171.226.128 (Talk | contribs)

Next diff →

Current revision

Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr. usually known as Mitch McConnell (born February 20, 1942) is the senior U.S. Senator from Kentucky. A Republican, he is the Majority Whip of that body, making him the second-ranking Republican behind Majority Leader Bill Frist.

He is a theological conservative and favors Bush. He is married to the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao.

[edit]

Biography

Born in Alabama to Irish-American parents and raised in south Louisville, Kentucky, McConnell graduated from the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences in 1964, and graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1967. At the University of Louisville McConnell was student body president, and at the University of Kentucky School of Law he was elected president of the Student Bar Association. McConnell gained experience on Capitol Hill as an intern under Sen. John Sherman Cooper, later as an assistant to Sen. Marlow Cook, and was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald R. Ford Jr.. From 1978 to his election into the Senate, he was the County Judge-Executive of Jefferson County, which includes Louisville.

In 1984, McConnell ran against two-term Democratic Senator Dee Huddleston and won by a razor-thin margin — less than half a percentage point. The race wasn't decided until the last returns came in, and it appeared that McConnell won only because of Ronald Reagan's gigantic landslide in that year's presidential election (Reagan won Kentucky by 21 percentage points). Part of McConnell's success came from a series of television campaign spots called "Where's Dee," featuring a group of bloodhounds trying to find Huddleston, implying that Huddleston's attendance record in the Senate was less than stellar. Despite the wide perception that 1984 was a disaster for Democrats, McConnell was the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democratic senator that year.

McConnell faced a tough reelection contest against former Louisville mayor Harvey I. Sloane in 1990, winning by only 4.5 points. He had a slightly easier time in 1996 even as Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state. In 2002, he was reelected with the largest majority by a Republican candidate in Kentucky history. On November 12 of that year, McConnell was unanimously elected as Majority Whip of the Senate.

McConnell has a solidly conservative voting record in the Senate, and is widely considered a "kingmaker" in Kentucky Republican politics. Many Democrats consider him the embodiment of a politician who relies on large donations from special interests.

With Frist retiring after the 2006 elections, it is widely speculated that McConnell will try to succeed him for majority leader. He is rumored to have the support of 40 of the Senate's 55 Republicans.

[edit]