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Friday, January 26, 2007

The Contenders: Tom Vilsack

posted by on January 26 at 14:45 PM

Sure, November 2008 is nearly two years away, but it’s apparently never too early to declare one’s intention to run for president, and thus it’s never too early to get to know the people who might be the next leader of the free world. This month we’ll be taking a brief look at them.

Vilsack.jpg

Tom Vilsack

Party: Democratic

Age: 57

Status: Declared

www.tomvilsack08.com

Does former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack have anything going for him in the presidential race beyond his high name-ID in a state that holds the earliest Democratic nominating contest?

He would say so. Vilsack (pictured here in his Winnie the Pooh costume) now serves as vice-chair of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, he was rumored to be high on the list of potential running-mates for John Kerry in 2004, he holds the distinction of having broken 30 years of Republican control of the governor’s mansion in Iowa, and he’s currently polling ahead of Hillary Clinton in his state, which holds its influential caucuses next January.

However, Vilsack is polling behind John Edwards and Barack Obama in Iowa, and he’s seen as something of a long-shot to ultimately win the state, much less the nomination.

An orphan from Pittsburgh, Vilsack was adopted when he was less than a year old by a Roman Catholic insurance salesman and his wife. He earned a BA from Hamilton College in 1972 and a JD from Albany Law School in 1975. He met his wife, Anne Christine Bell, in New York, and then moved with her back to her home town of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and took a job at her father’s law firm. The couple has two sons, both attorneys.

Vilsack was elected mayor of Mt. Pleasant in 1987 and went on to the Iowa State Senate in 1992. In 1998, he became the first Democrat to be elected governor of Iowa since 1968. He won a second term in 2002 but followed through on a pledge to limit himself to two terms.

Vilsack has said he favors withdrawing troops from Iraq (except for a small contingent he believes should remain in northern Iraq), he’s been critical of “No Child Left Behind,” and he supports abortion rights despite his Catholic upbringing. While the governor of Iowa he led a “War on Methamphetamine,” gained a reputation as a strong environmentalist, and signed an executive order allowing all felons who had served their sentences to vote again. He also signed into law a bill declaring English the official language of Iowa.

In June 2006, at the “Take Back America Conference,” he said this about the “War on Terror”:

What the rest of the world knows about America is that we have phenomenal military might. But I think there’s something even mightier than that. I think we ought to consider a second front in the war against terrorism and extremism. Our enemy is not a country; our enemy is a condition: poverty, ignorance and hunger. The time has come for America to lead an international effort to eliminate hunger and illiteracy and poverty in America and in the world.

And here he is on The Daily Show:

(With help from super-star intern Sage Van Wing)

Previously: John Edwards, John McCain, Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, Sam Brownback, Christopher J. Dodd, Newt Gingrich, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Huckabee.

RSS icon Comments

1

"centrist" Democratic Leadership Council

There is nothing "centrist" about the corporate-funded corporate-owned DLC and their pathetic attempt to turn the Democratic party into the weak spineless Republican-lite that lost every chance to regain a congressional majority from 1996 to 2004. And Yes I do know that Senator Clinton and her husband are DLC leaders. You want to know why NAFTA, WTA, CAFTA and the Iraq use of force resolution in October 2002 passed? It was the DLC.

These are the Joe Lieberman loving bastards that took out attack ads against Howard Dean in 2004.

Not just no DLC cannidates but HELL NO.

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | January 26, 2007 3:35 PM
2

An orphan from Pittsburgh? He might be related to my adopted brother ...

That said, the DLC is NOT centrist - they're right of center. And they share the fixation on exporting US jobs that the GOP has.

Jake's right on.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 26, 2007 4:39 PM
3

Heh heh- you said "Vilsack"....

Posted by Justin J | January 27, 2007 8:50 PM
4

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5

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6

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