In 2004, he was defeated for reelection in a close race to John Thune, who would go on to become a party leader himself.[1] Later, he took a position as a policy advisor with a lobbying firm, became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and co-authored a book advocating universal health care.
Daschle was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the son of Elizabeth B. (née Meier) and Sebastian C. Daschle, both of German descent. His paternal grandparents were Volga Germans.[5] He grew up in a working-class Roman Catholic family, the eldest of four brothers.[Note 1][7]
In 1978 Daschle was elected to the United States House of Representatives at the age of 31, winning the race by a margin of 139 votes, following a recount, out of more than 129,000 votes cast.[10] Daschle served four terms in the House of Representatives and quickly became a part of the Democratic leadership.
Although Daschle was not seeking the vice presidency,[a] he received 10 (0.30%) delegate votes for Vice President of the United States at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.[11] Several others also received protest votes, but incumbent Vice President Walter Mondale was nevertheless renominated easily.
In 1986, Daschle was elected to the U.S. Senate in a close victory over incumbent Republican James Abdnor. In his first year, he was appointed to the Finance Committee.
Tom Daschle 1986 United States Senate Campaign Logo
Party leadership
In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell as Democratic minority leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the minority leader's post, Daschle served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans reelected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in 1998.
When the 107th Congress commenced on January 3, 2001, the Senate was evenly divided—that is, there were 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Outgoing Vice President Al Gore acted in his constitutional capacity as ex officioPresident of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next two weeks, Daschle served as Senate Majority Leader.
Upon the commencement of the Bush administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney became president of the senate, thereby returning Democrats to the minority in that body; Daschle reverted to the position of Senate Minority Leader. However, on June 6, 2001, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced that he was leaving the Senate Republican caucus to become an independent and to caucus with Democrats;[12] this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became majority leader.
Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned the party to the minority in the senate in January 2003, and Daschle once more reverted to being minority leader.
Daschle recounted his senate experiences from 2001 to 2003 in his first book, Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever, published in 2003.[13] With Charles Robbins, he has also written the book The U.S. Senate, part of the Fundamentals of American Government series.[14]
US Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Congressman Tim Johnson (D-SD) Constituent Service Meeting
Daschle has a mixed voting record on abortion-related issues, which led the pro-choice organization NARAL to give him a 50% vote rating.[18]
In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on partial-birth abortion,[19][20] and supported legislation making it a crime to harm an unborn child when someone attacks a pregnant woman.[21] (Investigators into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which included Senator Daschle's Capitol Hill office, suspect that alleged anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins may have chosen to target Daschle over his views on abortion, although Ivins's lawyer disputed this alleged motive.)[22]
In 2003, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Carlson reportedly wrote to Daschle, criticizing his stance on abortion as conflicting with Roman Catholic teaching, and stating that Daschle should no longer identify himself as a Catholic.[23]
In the 2004 Senate election, John Thune defeated Daschle by 4,508 votes, 50.6% to 49.4%.[24] It was the first time that a Senate party leader had lost a bid for reelection since 1952, when Barry Goldwater defeated Ernest McFarland in Arizona.[25] Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist visited South Dakota to campaign for Thune, breaking an unwritten tradition that a leader of one party would not actively campaign for the defeat of the other.[26]
Throughout the campaign, Thune, along with Frist, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Cheney, frequently accused Daschle of being the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda and charged him with using filibusters to unjustly block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees. The Republican candidate also drove home his strong support for the war. In a nationally televised debate on NBC's Meet the Press, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" in his skepticism of the Iraq War.[27]
When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7% in January and February. By May, his lead was just 2% and summer polls showed a varying number of trends: Daschle or Thune led by no more than 2%, but some polls showed a tie. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2–5% while during the entire month of October into the November 2 election, most polls showed that Thune and Daschle were dead even, usually tied 49–49 among likely voters. Some polls showed either Thune or Daschle leading by extremely slim margins.[28]
Post-Senate career
Career and public service
Following his reelection defeat, Daschle took a position with the lobbying arm of the KStreet law firm Alston & Bird. Because he was prohibited by law from lobbying for one year after leaving the Senate,[29] he instead worked as a "special policy adviser" for the firm.[30][31]
Alston & Bird's healthcare clients include CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories, and HealthSouth.[32] The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60% of that money coming from the healthcare industry.[33] Daschle was recruited by the former RepublicanSenate Majority LeaderBob Dole.[34] Daschle's salary from Alston & Bird for the year 2008 was reportedly $2 million.[35]
Daschle was also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. In addition, he served as National Co-Chair of ONE Vote ‘08, along with former senator Bill Frist. He and former senators George Mitchell, Bob Dole, and Howard Baker formed the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), dedicated to finding bipartisan solutions for policy disputes.[9] Daschle is also a co-chair of BPC's Health Project.
In late September 2005, Daschle caught the attention of the media by reactivating his political action committee, changing its name from DASHPAC to New Leadership for America PAC and procuring a speaking slot at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. He continued to keep a relatively high-profile among Democratic interest groups. These moves were interpreted by the media as an exploration of a potential 2008 Presidential candidacy. On December 2, 2006, he announced he would not run for president in 2008.[40]
In an appearance on Meet the Press on February 12, 2006, Daschle endorsed a controversial warrantless surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), explaining that he had been briefed on the program while he was the Democratic leader in the Senate.[41]
In addition, Senator Daschle is a member of the board of trustees for the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.[42] The center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.[43]
Daschle is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today's national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organization composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with heads of Government on governance-related issues of concern to them.
Daschle is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.[45]
Daschle is the co-chair of the national advisory board at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD). The institute was created at the University of Arizona after the 2011 shooting of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords that killed six people and wounded 13 others.
In 2019, Daschle was named to the advisory board of Northern Swan Holdings Inc., a cannabis investment firm.[46] Daschle stated: "I believe it is imperative to loosen the restrictions on cannabis so we can research its properties and fully understand how patients can benefit from its medicinal use."[47] In 2020, Daschle endorsed Constitutional Amendment A, a ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for recreational use in South Dakota.[48]
In 2021, Daschle co-wrote an op-ed for The Hill criticizing proposed cuts to pandemic preparedness programs, describing them as "unthinkable" in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.[49]
On February 21, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Daschle, after ruling out a presidential bid of his own in December 2006, had thrown his support behind Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for the 2008 presidential election, saying that Obama "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."[50]
In January 2005, having suggested that Obama take on some of his staffers, Daschle exited the Senate just as Obama entered.[51] These included Daschle's outgoing chief-of-staff Pete Rouse who helped to create a two-year plan in the Senate that would fast-track Obama for the presidential nomination. Daschle himself told Obama in 2006 that "windows of opportunity for running for the presidency close quickly. And that he should not assume, if he passes up this window, that there will be another."[51]
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Daschle served as a key advisor to Obama and one of the national co-chairs for Obama's campaign.[52] On June 3, 2008, Obama lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in Daschle's home state of South Dakota, although that night Obama clinched his party's nomination anyway.
Two days later, sources indicated Daschle "is interested in universal health care and might relish serving as HHS secretary."[53] In the general election campaign, Daschle continued to consult Obama, campaign for him across swing states, and advise his campaign organization until Obama was ultimately elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008.
On November 19, 2008, the press reported that Daschle had accepted Obama's offer to be nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary. His selection was announced at a news conference with Obama on December 11, 2008.[2]
Some organizations objected to Daschle's selection, arguing that his work at Alston & Bird was tantamount to lobbying and therefore his selection violated Obama's promise to keep special interests out of the White House. According to Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, Daschle technically complies with the transition rules against lobbyists but "many power brokers never register as lobbyists, but they are every bit as powerful."[54]Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition, responded that Daschle's work "does not represent a bar to his service in the transition" since "he was not a lobbyist, and he will recuse himself from any work that presents a conflict of interest."[54] Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, praised Daschle on his nomination to Secretary of Health and Human Services for his "deep commitment to securing high-quality, affordable health care for everyone in our nation."[55]
On January 30, 2009, it was reported that Daschle's friendship and business partnership with businessman Leo Hindery could cause problems for Daschle's Senate confirmation. Daschle has been a paid consultant and advisor to Hindery's InterMedia Partners since 2005, during which time he received from Hindery access to a limousine and chauffeur. Daschle reportedly did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. A spokeswoman for Daschle said that he "simply and probably naively" considered the use of the car and driver "a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend."[35][58][60][61] Daschle told the Senate Finance Committee that in June 2008—just as he was letting the press know he would like to be HHS secretary in an Obama administration[53]—that "something made him think that the car service might be taxable" and he began seeking to remedy the situation.[62]
Daschle reportedly also did not pay taxes on an additional $83,333 that he earned as a consultant to InterMedia Partners in 2007; this was discovered by Senator Daschle's accountant in December 2008.[62] According to ABC News, Daschle also took tax deductions for $14,963 in donations that he made between 2005 and 2007 to charitable organizations that did not meet the requirements for being tax deductible.[63]
The former senator paid the three years of owed taxes and interest—an amount totaling $140,167—in January 2009,[60][61][62][64] but still reportedly owed "Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent" of the value of the car service he received, amounting to "thousands of dollars in additional unpaid taxes."[65]
On February 3, 2009, Daschle withdrew his nomination,[66] saying that he did not wish to be a "distraction" to the Obama agenda.[3]
Health policy
Daschle co-wrote the 2008 book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care CrisisISBN9780312383015.[67] He and his co-authors point out that "most of the world’s highest-ranking health-care systems employ some kind of 'single-payer' strategy – that is, the government, directly or through insurers, is responsible for paying doctors, hospitals, and other health-care providers." They argue that a single-payer approach is simple, equitable, provides everyone with the same benefits, and saves billions of dollars through economies of scale and simplified administration. They concede that implementing a single-payer system in the United States would be "politically problematic" even though some polls show more satisfaction with the single-payer Medicare system than private insurance.[68]
A key element of the single-payer plan that Daschle and his co-authors propose in the book is a new "Federal Health Board" that would establish the framework and fill in the details. The board would somehow be simultaneously "insulated from political pressure" and "accountable to elected officials and the American people." The board would "promote 'high-value' medical care by recommending coverage of those drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence."[69] This proposal has been criticized by conservatives and libertarians who argue that such a board will lead to rationing of health care,[70][71] and by progressives who believe the board will, as one writer put it, "get defanged by lobbyists immediately."[72]
One of Daschle's co-authors, Jeanne Lambrew, had been slated before his withdrawal to serve as his deputy in the White House Office of Health Reform.[71]
Daschle also served as a panelist on the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a body that recommended changes to U.S. policy to strengthen national biodefense.[73] In order to address biological threats facing the nation, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense created a 33 step initiative for the U.S. Government to implement. Headed by former senator Joe Lieberman and former governor Tom Ridge, the Study Panel assembled in Washington, D.C., for four meetings concerning current biodefense programs. The Study Panel concluded that the federal government had little to no defense mechanisms in case of a biological event. The Study Panel's final report, The National Blueprint for Biodefense, proposes a string of solutions and recommendations for the U.S. Government to take, including items such as giving the vice president authority over biodefense responsibilities and merging the entire biodefense budget. These solutions represent the Panel's call to action in order to increase awareness and activity for pandemic related issues.
9/11
Daschle claims he was asked by vice president Dick Cheney "not to investigate" the events of 9/11.[74]
He told reporters, "the vice president expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism. I acknowledged that concern, and it is for that reason that the Intelligence Committee is going to begin this effort, trying to limit the scope and the overall review of what happened. But clearly, I think the American people are entitled to know what happened and why."[75]
Personal life
Daschle has been married to Linda Hall, who was Miss Kansas in 1976, since 1984, one year after his marriage to his first wife, Laurie, later-U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, ended in divorce.[76]
↑ Daschle would only have been 33 on Inauguration Day in 1981; two years below the Constitutional minimum age of 35 for a President or Vice-President
Related Research Articles
William Harrison Frist is an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Frist studied government and health care policy at Princeton University and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. He trained as a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine, and later founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. In 1994, he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Jim Sasser.
Timothy Peter Johnson was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district from 1987 to 1997 and in the state legislature from 1979 to 1987. Johnson is the last Democrat to hold statewide and/or congressional office in South Dakota. He and Stephanie Herseth are also the last Democrats to win a statewide election in South Dakota, as well as a federal election.
The 2004 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 2004, with all Class 3 Senate seats being contested. They coincided with the re-election of George W. Bush as president and the United States House elections, as well as many state and local elections. Senators who were elected in 1998, known as Senate Class 3, were seeking re-election or retiring in 2004.
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician who served as the 21st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the second woman to hold that office. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Sebelius was the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address and is chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors Association. She is CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC.
Stephanie Marie Herseth Sandlin is an American attorney, university administrator, and politician from the Democratic Party. She represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2004 until 2011. Sandlin was first elected to Congress in a July 2004 special election and won three full terms before losing to Republican Kristi Noem in 2010. She was the youngest female member of the House, and the first woman elected to the House from South Dakota. Before her 2007 marriage to Max Sandlin, she was known as Stephanie Herseth. She is a Democrat and a member of the Herseth family of South Dakota. She and Senator Tim Johnson are the last Democrats to win a statewide and/or federal election in South Dakota.
John Randolph Thune is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the Senate majority leader and Senate Republican leader since January 2025. Thune is in his fourth Senate term and is the dean of South Dakota's congressional delegation. From 1997 to 2003, he served three terms as the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district.
The 2004 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The structure of the government of South Dakota is based on that of the federal government, with three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The structure of the state government is laid out in the Constitution of South Dakota, the highest law in the state. The constitution may be amended either by a majority vote of both houses of the legislature, or by voter initiative.
The 2002 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson narrowly won re-election to a second term over Republican John Thune by a margin of 524 votes, or 0.15%. This made the election the closest race of the 2002 Senate election cycle.
The 2004 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was narrowly defeated by Republican John Thune.
The Attending Physician of the United States Congress is the physician responsible for the medical welfare of the members of the United States Congress and the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Peter Mikami Rouse is an American political consultant who served as interim White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Barack Obama. Rouse previously spent many years on Capitol Hill, becoming known as the "101st senator" during his tenure as Chief of Staff to Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.
Jeanne Lambrew is a United States professor of public affairs and health policy. She served in the Obama administration as Deputy Director of the White House Office of Health Reform.
The first 100 days of the Barack Obama presidency began on January 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. The first 100 days of a presidential term took on symbolic significance during Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office, and the period is considered a benchmark to measure the early success of a president. The 100th day of his presidency ended on April 30, 2009. Obama stated that he should not be judged just by his first hundred days: "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference." Obama began to formally create his presidential footprint during his first 100 days. Obama quickly began attempting to foster support for his economic stimulus package, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The bill passed in the House on January 28, 2009, by a 244–188 vote, and it passed in the Senate on February 10 by a 61–37 margin.
Barack Obama assumed office as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, and his term ended on January 20, 2017. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
The White House Office of Health Reform was a new government entity in the United States created by President Barack Obama. The office was a component of the Domestic Policy Council in the Office of White House Policy. The Director of the Office of Health Reform is titled the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Office of Health-Care Reform. The first and last Director was Nancy-Ann Min DeParle. Obama had originally picked former Senator Tom Daschle for the role, but Daschle withdrew after a scandal broke over his unpaid taxes. Jeanne Lambrew served as Deputy Director from 2009 to 2011. Linda Douglass served as the office's director of communications from May 2009 to April 2010.
William V. Corr is an American attorney and former government official. He served as Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the administration of President Bill Clinton and as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015.
The 2016 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Dakota, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held June 7.
The National Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016 is a bill introduced in the United States Senate by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). The bill would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by requiring the government to change its current policy and programs to coordinate and improve biodefense preparedness. Johnson is the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The 2022 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Dakota. Incumbent three-term Republican U.S. Senator John Thune, who is the Senate Minority Whip, was first elected in 2004, defeating Democratic incumbent Tom Daschle, the then-Senate Minority Leader. He ran for reelection to a fourth term. The Democratic nominee was 26-year Navy, Air Force JAG Corps veteran, and former college professor Brian Bengs. Thune was ultimately reelected, becoming the first Senator from South Dakota to be elected to a fourth term since Karl Mundt in 1966, and only the second to do so after Mundt.
References
↑ Lauck, Jon K. (2016). Daschle Vs. Thune: Anatomy of a High-Plains Senate Race. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN978-0806138503.
↑ Entry for James Merrill Jeffords in the Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress. (Accessed January 30, 2009.)
↑ Tom Daschle and Michael D'Orso, Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever, Crown, 2003. ISBN978-1-4000-4955-4
↑ "2003 Summit Highlights Photo". United States Senators John McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Trent Lott, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle were presented with the Academy's Gold Medal by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in the historic Caucus Room.
↑ "Our History Photo". Actor George Clooney and Senator Tom Daschle chat after the summit symposium and awards ceremony at the U.S. Capitol during the 2003 International Achievement Summit held in Washington, D.C.
↑ Tom Daschle, Scott S. Greenberger, and Jeanne M. Lambrew, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis, Thomas Dunne, 2008. ISBN978-0-312-38301-5
↑ "Bush asks Daschle to limit Sept. 11 probes". CNN. January 29, 2002. Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice President Dick Cheney last Friday to make the same request.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
United States Air Force 
