Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) is seeking reelection this year to his fourth term in the Senate and is locked in a tough battle with former Rep. John Thune, who is once again ably carrying the Republican and conservative banner. Two years ago, Thune narrowly lost to Democrat Sen. Tim Johnson in a hotly contested race for South Dakota's other Senate seat. Over the years, Daschle has proven himself to be one of the more effective liberal leaders in Washington, imposing gridlock on the Senate. Coupling a disarmingly beguiling manner with a mean partisan streak, he has done as much as anyone to define the Clinton (and post-Clinton) era Democratic Party on Capitol Hill. Through thick and thin, he has pulled many of the strings that have kept Senate Democrats united in such endeavors as brazenly defending Bill Clinton's interests in the impeachment trial and ignoring Senate traditions to block Bush judges and energy legislation. On the surface, Daschle deftly cultivates an aura of smiling moderation, cooperation and bipartisanship. Underneath, maintaining a career-long left-wing philosophy and voting record, he is a hardened and persistent fighter for liberal causes. Similarly on the South Dakota campaign trail, Daschle cleverly communicates a message cloaked in quasi-conservative rhetoric that is clearly designed to disguise his stridently liberal record in Washington. Daschle's campaign website introduces voters to a man who "believes the solutions to the problems facing the state lie not in Washington," a man who is a "tireless fighter for families"; a man who has "insisted on fiscal discipline"; who is "a champion of veterans' issues" and who "pushed fellow lawmakers to cut taxes for working families, pay down the national debt and shore up Social Security and Medicare for future generations." Who is Tom Daschle? Just so we don't forget, it is worth taking a quick trip down memory lane to recall a few of the biographical highlights and voting records that unmistakably place Daschle among Washington's liberal elite. Biographical Highlights 1973-77
Legislative Aide to ultra-liberal Sen. James Abourezk (D.-S.D.). 1978
Defeated conservative Republican ex-POW Leo Thorsness by 139 votes in race for U.S. House seat. Reelected 1980, 1982, 1984. 1986
Defeated conservative Sen. Jim Abdnor (R-S.D.) 52% to 48% in the year Republicans lost Senate control. Reelected 1992, 1998. 1989
Appointed by Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) to be co-chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. 1991
Voted against Gulf War 1994
Elected Senate minority leader, defeating Sen .Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) by one vote (24 to23), after the expected favorite, Sen. Jim Sasser (D.-Tenn.) was unexpectedly defeated by Republican Bill Frist (R.) in his bid for reelection. Controversial Liberal Positions 1995
Insured defeat of Balanced Budget Amendment by one vote in the Senate. After previously supporting such an amendment, he now argued that he only favored an alternative amendment that excluded Social Security. 1997
Actively supported constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending.
Offered alternative "ban" on partial-birth abortion that included a fig-leaf "health-of-the mother" exception, to give Democrats cover to oppose the real ban. After his version was defeated, Daschle voted for the ban when it fell three votes short of a veto-proof majority. 1998-99
Steadily defended Bill Clinton against impeachment and insisted on truncated Senate trial without witnesses. 2001
Attacked Bush tax cuts, saying it would give rich people enough to buy a "Lexus" and poor people only enough to buy a "muffler."
Persuaded Jim Jeffords to make his party switch that changed Senate control from Republican to Democrat.
Pulled energy bill out of Democrat-controlled Energy committee to prevent passage of drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge, and instead write his own unpassable energy bill featuring ethanol development and measures to address global warming. 2001-02
Said the Bush tax cut was "a disaster" which "probably made the recession worse" and could bring about "the most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our nation's history." 2003
On the day President Bush issued the final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein before embarking on the Iraq war, Daschle said he was "saddened" that Bush had "failed so miserably at diplomacy," and that "we have to give up one life because this President couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country." Daschle has spent his entire career in government. As a member of the House from 1979-1986 and as a member of the Senate from 1987 to the present, he has compiled a thoroughly consistent liberal voting record, with a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of just 13. Here, year by year, are a handful of some key Daschle votes on issues of importance worth remembering:. Voting Record Highlights 1979
For creating the Department of Education
Against increasing defense spending
Against prohibiting price controls on gasoline
Against constitutional prohibition on school busing 1980
Against deleting Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements
For Carter's "windfall profits tax" on energy
Against prohibiting federal funds for U.S.-Soviet trade
Against cutting Legal Services Corporation 1981
Against "Gramm-Latta" Reagan budget cuts
Against Reagan tax cuts
Against closing loophole to ensure sanctions against people who expose covert U.S. intelligence agents 1982
For reducing civil defense authorizations
Against assuring "nuclear freeze" would not put U.S. at disadvantage
Against restrictions on food stamp eligibility
Against prohibiting NIH experimentation on human fetuses
Against MX missile deployment 1983
For nuclear freeze
Against anti-satellite weapons
Against chemical weapons for deterrent
Against covert action to aid Nicaragua contras
Against MX missile 1984
Against military aid to El Salvador
Against aid for Nicaraguan contras
Against deployment of nuclear missiles in Europe
For allowing federal employee health insurance to cover abortions
Against penalties for state agencies that prevent voluntary school prayer
Against reduced funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 1985
Against MX missile
Against military aide to Nicaraguan contras
Against non-military aid to Nicaraguan contras
Against aid to freedom fighters in Angola
Against ban on using federal funds to pay for abortions in D.C.
Against eliminating new programs, cutting spending and reducing federal salary increases 1986
Against aid to Nicaraguan contras
For cutting SDI funding
Against MX missile
For special trade privileges for communist Romania 1987
Against aid to Nicaraguan contras
For overriding Reagan veto of bloated highway bill
Against SDI testing and funding
Against Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination 1988
Against aid to Nicaraguan contras
Against deployment of nuclear-warhead (MIRV) missiles
For ban on nuclear testing
Against rapid deployment of missile defense
Against welfare reform work requirement
For increasing the minimum wage 1989
Against capping free mailing privileges of senators
Against John Tower nomination as Secretary of Defense
For expanding federal role in child care
Against aid to anti-Communist resistance fighters in Cambodia
Against MX missile
Against SDI missile defense
Against barring federal NEA funds for obscene and indecent artwork
Against sanctions on China to protest massacre of pro-democracy forces in Beijing
Against capital gains tax cut 1990
Against dedicating "peace dividend" to deficit reduction
For restricting implementation of the death penalty
Against allowing employers to transfer AIDS-infected employees to non-food handling positions.
Against flag protection amendment
For taxpayer funding of political campaigns
Against B-2 stealth bomber
Against space-based components of SDI
Against excluding organizations that perform abortions from direct federal funding
For overriding Bush veto of "civil rights" bill mandating quotas in hiring 1991
Against use of force in Iraq
For taxpayer funding of campaigns
For "Racial Justice Act" allowing challenges to death penalty based on race
For gun control seven-day waiting period
Against parental notification on abortion
Against SDI
Against Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination 1992
Against voluntary school prayer
Against school choice
For eliminating defense budget firewalls
For requiring bilingual balloting for certain minority populations
Against capital gains tax cut
Against product liability reform
For cutting SDI funding
For nuclear test ban
For override of Bush veto of "motor voter" bill
Against penalizing charities that withdraw support from Boy Scouts for barring homosexuals and atheists. 1993
For Clinton "family and medical leave" act
For Clinton "motor voter" bill
Against line item veto
For Clinton "stimulus" spending bill
For lesbian activist Roberta Achtenberg nomination to HUD Asst. Secretary. position
For taxpayer funding of campaigns
Against workfare requirements
For 4.3 cents per gallon gasoline tax increase
For Clinton tax increase
Against prohibiting retroactive tax increases
For publicly disclosing secret intelligence budgets
For Brady gun control bill 1994
Against school choice
For cuts in missile defense
For "Goals 2000" federal education mandates
For weak-on-crime Rosemary Barkett judicial nomination
For big labor strengthening "striker replacement" bill
For Clinton "crime" bill
For liberal campaign finance reform 1995
Against balanced budget amendment
Against product liability reform
Against tax cut package
Against habeas corpus reform to prevent death penalty delays
For Henry Foster nomination as Surgeon General
Against missile defense funding
For cuts in FBI funding
Against balanced budget act
Against flag protection amendment 1996
Against product liability reform
Against medical savings accounts
Against supermajority to raise taxes
Against defense budget firewalls
For cutting missile defense
For campaign finance reform
For $13 billion defense cut
Against small business exemption from minimum wage
Against landmark Welfare Reform bill
For gay rights-advancing Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Against override of Clinton veto of partial birth abortion ban 1997
Against balanced budget amendment
For constitutional amendment to limit campaign spending
For Chemical Weapons Treaty
Against Hyde amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion
Against Coverdell education savings accounts
Against local control of federal education funds
Against Congressional checks on Clinton heritage rivers program
Against paycheck protection act requiring unions to gain voluntary authorization from members for political activities. 1998
For McCain Campaign Finance bill
Against education savings accounts
Against tax cuts
Against Social Security "personal retirement accounts"
For national education testing
Against national missile defense
For tobacco tax increase
Against ban on overseas military abortions
For handgun triggerlock mandate 1999
Not guilty on Clinton impeachment
For Gun show background checks
Against Republican Patients Bill of Rights
For reducing tax cut to pay for Medicare Rx drug bill
Against tax cut package
For Clinton's 100,000 teachers hiring plan
For weak-on-crime Ronnie White judicial nomination
For Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements
For Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
For increase in minimum wage
For affirming Roe v. Wade decision on abortion 2000
Against tax cuts
Against marriage penalty tax relief
For transferring defense spending to domestic programs
For "hate crimes" legislation
Against repeal of OSHA ergonomics regulations
Against reducing tax on Social Security benefits
Against Congressional check on national monument designation 2001
Against inst John Ashcroft attorney general nomination
Against Bush tax cut
Against school choice demonstration project
Against supporting Boy Scouts against gay activists
Against Medical Savings Accounts
For taxpayer funding of gun turn-ins
For taxpayer funding of needle exchange programs
For International Criminal Court 2002
For federalizing election procedures with national voting procedure requirements
Against calling for hearings on judicial nominees within one year
Against controls on government spending
Against making death tax repeal permanent
Against President's ability to waive labor protections for DHS employees for national security reasons 2003
For filibuster against Michael Estrada (and other) judicial nominations
For affirming 1973 Roe v.Wade decision legalizing abortion
Against accelerated repeal of death tax
Against phase-out of tax on dividend income
Against medical malpractice liability reform
For repealing Reagan's "Mexico City" policy on abortion
For stricter CAFE (fuel economy) requirements
For forcing U.S. into compliance with unratified Kyoto treaty on global warming
