Elected 2000, term expires Jan. 2005
Born: July 6, 1946, New Haven, Conn.
Home: Austin, Texas
Education: Yale University, B.A. 1968; Harvard University, M.B.A. 1975
Religion: Methodist
Marital Status: married (Laura)
Military: Texas Air National Guard, 1968–73.
Political Career: Texas governor, 1994–2000.
Professional Career: Founder & CEO, Bush Exploration Oil & Gas Co., 1975–87; senior Adviser, to Bush presidential camp., 1988; managing general partner of Texas Rangers, 1989–98.
BIOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS
· Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Conn., and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas.
· In 1953, his younger sister, Robin, died of leukemia at age 3.
· He became engaged to Cathryn Wolfman in December 1966 during his junior year at Yale, but ended the relationship in early 1968.
· He received a Bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1968.
· Bush served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. (Controversy surrounds Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard because it is unclear from the record what duties he performed for the military when he was working on the 1972 political campaign of a U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama.)
· Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975.
· After graduating, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business.
· He worked in the oil and gas business in Midland in the 1970s and 1980s; made little money.
· Bush ran for Congress and lost in 1978. He took 47 percent of the vote, losing the race to Democrat Kent Hance.
· After a three-month courtship, he married Laura Welch, a librarian, in 1977.
· Bush became the father of twins, Barbara and Jenna, in 1981.
· At age 40, after pleas from his wife and a rekindling of his faith, he stopped drinking.
· Bush served as an adviser in his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign.
· In 1989, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise.
· He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he sold the team for a healthy profit and used his new financial independence as a springboard to run for governor.
· Bush was elected governor on November 8, 1994. He defeated Democrat Ann Richards and won 53.5 percent of the vote.
· He was the first governor in Texas history to be elected to consecutive four-year terms when he was re-elected on November 3, 1998, with 68.2 percent of the vote.
· Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas.
· In November 1998, brother Jeb Bush was elected governor of Florida. The Bushes were the first brothers to be governors simultaneously since the Rockefellers (Nelson in New York, Winthrop in Arkansas) in the late '60s.
· On March 7, 1999, Bush formally announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee at a news conference in Austin.
· He attracted major party and donor support (the latter on an unprecedented scale) early on.
· On Feb. 1, 2000, he lost the New Hampshire Primary to Sen. John McCain by double digits. He rebounded with a win in South Carolina two weeks later.
· Just prior to the GOP nominating convention in July 2000, Bush chose former defense secretary Richard Cheney as his running mate.
· On Dec. 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court, ruling 5-4 that there may be no further counting of Florida’s disputed presidential votes.
· Bush was sworn into office as the 43rd president on January 20, 2001.
· On Sept. 14, 2001 he visited the smoking ruins of the twin towers in Manhattan, stepped up on a crumpled fire engine and addressed cheering police, firefighters and rescuers. "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon," Bush said.
· On Oct. 7, 2001, Bush ordered U.S. forces into Afghanistan to dislodge the Taliban militia from control and to destroy the Al Qaeda network responsible for the attacks.
· March 17, 2003. Bush addressed the nation and told Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq within 48 hours in order to avoid military action.
· March 19, 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
· In a speech delivered from the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, on May 1, 2003, Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
· Bush drew fire for the administration's lack of preparation for the postwar era, for mounting casualties, and for failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
ELECTION RESULTS—>
? John Edwards (D) 1,029,237 51%
· Lauch Faircloth (R) 945,943 47%
· Other 36,963 2%—>
? John Edwards (D) 277,468 51%
· D. G. Martin (D) 149,049 28%
· Ella Scarborough (D) 55,486 10%
· Robert Ayers Jr. (D) 22,477 4%
· Other 35,551 7%—>
? Lauch Faircloth (R) 1,297,892 50%
· Terry Sanford (D) 1,194,015 46%
· Other 85,984 3%—>
ON THE ISSUES
ABORTION
? President Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003.
· He believes that life begins at conception and would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion except in cases where pregnancy causes a life-threatening risk, or is the result of incest or rape. He says, however, that the country is not ready for a constitutional amendment.
· He also believes that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or to advocate and promote abortion.
QUOTES ON ABORTION
? "Last November, I signed a law to end the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. This law is constitutional; this law is compassionate; this law is urgently needed; and my administration will vigorously defend it in the courts." 08/03/2004
· "I don't think the culture has changed to the extent that the American people or the Congress would totally ban abortions." 10/28/2003
· "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad." 01/22/2001
· "I think a noble goal for this country is that any child, born or unborn, needs to be protected by law and welcomed to life. I know we need to change a lot of minds before we get there in America." 10/03/2000
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
? President Bush opposes quotas and believes guaranteeing admissions to top students from high schools can achieve racial diversity at colleges.
QUOTES ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
? "I think quotas are discriminatory by nature. They discriminate — I think they discriminate on the bottom, and I know they discriminate on the top." 08/06/2004
· "When I was the governor of Texas, there was concerns that our big institutions were not — big educational institutions were not diversified enough. So I went to the legislature and said, why don't we work together and say that there's automatic admission to our universities if you finish in the top 10 percent of your high school class, no matter what high school you go to. And it worked." 08/06/2004
· "If you're asking me am I for quotas, the answer is absolutely not. Quotas don't work. Quotas pit people against each other. Quotas aren't right in our society." 03/23/2000
· "We should not be satisfied with the current numbers of minorities on America's college campuses." 01/15/2003
· "Recent history has proven that diversity can be achieved without using quotas. Systems in California and Florida and Texas have proven that by guaranteeing admissions to the top students from high schools throughout the state, including low-income neighborhoods, colleges can attain broad racial diversity." 01/15/2003
EDUCATION
? President Bush favors increased accountability in education through the No Child Left Behind Act. He supports targeting resources for early childhood education, measuring student performance and giving options over failing schools.
· He also supports reading instruction based upon proven research-based teaching methods.
· Bush backs school vouchers and advocates overhauling Head Start by increasing its funding by $203 million in 2004. The program will require that half its teachers be college graduates by 2008.
· He proposes larger Pell Grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school.
QUOTES ON EDUCATION
? "The No Child Left Behind Act has got great faith in the local folks to chart the path to excellence. It's got strong sense of accountability, and it raises the bar. A better America is an America in which every child receives an education early, before it is too late. It's precisely what this administration will continue to push for." 07/14/2004
· "The No Child Left Behind Act is a vital important piece of legislation, and I'll tell you why. For the first time, in return for federal money, we have asked this fundamental question: Can you read and write and add and subtract? Are you teaching our children the basics? We've increased federal spending by 49 percent for public schools since I got sworn in. And what's changed is, we're now saying, show us whether or not a child can read and show us early." 04/26/2004
· "In the bill, in the No Child Left Behind Act, not only do we insist upon local control of schools, an accountability system designed at the state or local level, we also say that when you see failure early, there's additional money to make sure children aren't left behind. This is an important piece of legislation, and I will resist any attempt to undermine it." 01/23/2004
· "Testing is the only way to identify and help students who are falling behind. This nation will not go back to the days of simply shuffling children along from grade to grade without them learning the basics. I refuse to give up on any child. And the No Child Left Behind Act is opening the door of opportunity to all of America's children." 01/20/2004
· "Public education, we've got to get it right. It's the gateway to hope. It is essential for this country to have a public education system that responds to the needs of every child so that we can meet great objectives for this country. It's trite, it's been said a lot, but it's true: The future of the country depends on our capacity to educate every child." 01/08/2004
· "We will no longer write off some children as hopeless. We will no longer accept or excuse schools that do not effectively teach the basics. We will insist on high standards and accountability because we believe that every school should teach and every child can learn." 01/03/2004
· "Three years ago, there was a lot of talk about education reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called for and the Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid bipartisan majority, we delivered the most dramatic education reforms in a generation." 01/05/2004
GAY MARRIAGE
? President Bush opposes gay marriage.
· He wants Congress to pass an amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as a union of man and woman. He says a constitutional amendment should allow the state legislatures to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage.
QUOTES ON GAY MARRIAGE
? "First of all, I believe our society is better off when marriage is defined as between a man and a woman. It's my belief." 08/11/2004
· "My worry has been that the courts will overturn that law (Defense of Marriage Act) and that we will end up with a series of activist judges defining marriage. And so the easiest way — not the easiest way, probably the toughest way — but the clearest way to define marriage is to put it in the Constitution like I suggested." 08/11/2004
· "Activist courts have left the people with one recourse. If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America." 02/24/2004
· "I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife. The amendment should fully protect marriage, while leaving the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage." 02/24/2004
· "Today's ruling of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is deeply troubling. Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. If activist judges insist on redefining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process. We must do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage." 02/04/2004
· "If judges insist on forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative left to the people would be the constitutional process. Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage." 01/20/2004
HEALTH CARE
? President Bush wants to control rising health care costs by cutting down on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals.
· Bush will encourage the use of health savings accounts.
· He would allow small businesses to band together and negotiate for lower insurance rates.
· He would double to $100 million the money spent on projects that use promising health information technology that would replace handwritten charts and scattered medical files.
· Bush signed a law that added prescription drug coverage to Medicare, and proposes $89 billion in new health credits to make private health insurance more affordable for low- and middle-income American families who do not have employer-subsidized insurance.
· He also supports allowing patients their choice of doctors, hospitals or treatment centers.
· He wants to provide full coverage for disease prevention measures — such as screenings for cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis.
QUOTES ON HEALTH CARE
? "More than 4 million seniors have signed up for drug discount cards that provide real savings. Beginning in 2006, all seniors on Medicare will be able to choose a plan that suits their needs and gives them coverage for prescription drugs." 08/10/2004
· "To make sure health care is available and affordable, we must end the frivolous lawsuits that raise the cost of health care. You cannot be pro — pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-trial lawyer at the same time. You have to choose." 08/10/2004
· "To protect patients and improve care and reduce cost, we need a system where everyone has their own personal electronic medical record that they control and they can give a doctor when they need to." 04/26/2004
· "I believe the best health care system is that health care system generated in the private markets." 01/28/2004
· "We don't want the federal government running health care, we don't want the federal government making decisions." 01/28/2004
· "Rising health care costs are making it difficult for some entities to hire people. Rising health care costs affect all Americans. We want our families to feel more secure. Rising health care costs create insecurity in our nation." 01/26/2004
· "It's going to take a while to implement the Medicare bill. It's a complex piece of legislation. After all, it's the first modernization since Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare in the mid-'60s." 01/26/2004
· "When the full [Medicare] drug benefit arrives in 2006, all seniors will be eligible for prescription drug coverage for a monthly premium of about $35. The result is that for most seniors without coverage today, the Medicare drug plan will cut their annual drug bills roughly in half. That's positive news for America's seniors." 11/25/2003
· "It's very important that we have a society that allows a person to sue a bad doc if they get hurt. But we don't need a society in which there's junk, frivolous lawsuits being filed all the time, which raise the cost of medicine, particularly to these businesses." 12/01/2003
HOMELAND SECURITY
? President Bush proposed and Congress approved a single, unified Department of Homeland Security.
· He created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center to merge and analyze all threat information collected domestically and abroad in a single location.
· He established tough new procedures and created new partnerships with the world's largest ports to target and secure high-risk cargo.
· The U.S. government provided $7.8 billion in grants between 2002 and 2003 to help state and local responders.
QUOTES ON HOMELAND SECURITY
? "Today I'm asking Congress to create the position of a National Intelligence Director. That person — the person in that office will be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, and will serve at the pleasure of the President. The National Intelligence Director will serve as the President's principal intelligence advisor and will oversee and coordinate the foreign and domestic activities of the intelligence committee." 08/02/2004
· "We've created a new unified Department of Homeland Security and gave it resources and the authority to defend America. We're employing the latest equipment and know-how to secure our borders, air and sea ports and infrastructure. We're bringing the best technologies to bear against the threat of chemical and biological warfare. Project Bioshield will fund cutting-edge drugs and other defenses against a biological, chemical, or radiological attack." 08/02/2004
· "My '05 budget has got $30 billion in there for homeland security. That's three times the amount spent prior to September the 11th." 01/23/2004
· "For two years, this nation has been on the offensive against global terror networks — overseas, and at home. We've taken unprecedented, effective measures to protect this homeland. Yet, our nation has more to do. We will never be complacent. We will defend our people, and we will win this war." 09/10/2003
· "We reorganized our government to enhance our strategy, and we set three national objectives for homeland security: One, to prevent attacks on America; to reduce our vulnerabilities; and to prepare for any attack that might come." 09/10/2003
IRAQ
? President Bush favors staying in Iraq until security is established.
· He has called on other nations to help build a free Iraq and contribute to reconstruction efforts.
· He says Saddam Hussein ought to be tried by Iraqis and that the ex-dicatator deserves the "ultimate punishment."
QUOTES ON IRAQ
? "Even though we did not find the stockpiles that we expected to find, removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right thing to do. Saddam Hussein had the capability to make weapons of mass destruction. And he could have passed that capability on to terrorist enemies. After September the 11th, that was a chance we could not afford to take. And America and the world are safer because Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell." 08/10/2004
· "We all looked at the intelligence — I looked at it, members of Congress from both political parties looked at it, my opponent looked at it. We all came to the same conclusion: Saddam Hussein was a threat." 08/09/2004
· "The rise of a free and self-governing Iraq would deny terrorists a base of operation, discredit their narrow ideology, and give momentum to reformers across the region. This would be a decisive blow to terrorism at the heart of its power, and a victory for the security of America and the civilized world." 05/24/2004
· "America will fund the construction of a modern, maximum security prison. When that prison is completed, detainees at Abu Ghraib will be relocated. Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Ghraib prison, as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning." 05/24/2004
· "We will keep our word to the Iraqi people. There are thousands in Iraq who long for freedom. See, freedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is the Almighty's gift to each man and woman in this world." 04/23/2004
· "This is an historic moment. You see, a free society will be a peaceful society. A free society in the heart of the Middle East will begin to change the world for the better. No, they're trying to shake our will, but America will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch of thugs and killers." 04/23/2004
· "The — first of all, I expected to find the weapons. I'm sitting behind this desk, making a very difficult decision of war and peace, and I based my decision on the best intelligence possible, intelligence that had been gathered over the years, intelligence that not only our analysts thought was valid but analysts from other countries thought were valid." 02/08/2004
· "Had we failed to act, the dictator's [Saddam Hussein's] weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." 01/20/2004
· "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." 05/01/2003
· "Iraq is a battle in the war on terror." 12/15/2003
TAXES
? President Bush wants the tax cuts he passed to become permanent.
· He says that the current tax cuts are enough to generate growth.
· His Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 sped up the 2001 tax cuts to increase the pace of economic recovery and job creation.
· He provided dividend and capital-gains tax relief, giving small businesses incentives to grow.
QUOTES ON TAXES
? "I'm the guy that believes in reducing taxes and keeping them low. It's the other fellow that says he's going to raise taxes and I think it'll be a mistake to raise taxes now. The economy is getting better and raising taxes now on people would slow the economy down." 08/15/2004
· "And as we look forward with confidence, we want to make sure that we make good decisions. There's a couple of good decisions we need to make. One is, a bad decision would be to raise taxes on the American people. And some of the tax relief is set to expire. And if Congress doesn't make it permanent, that's called a tax increase. And they will be tagged with raising taxes on the American people. They should not raise taxes. We need good, consistent tax policy." 07/02/2004
· "Much of the tax relief we passed is set to expire, and it's set to expire right about the time the economy gets going. It makes no sense to have a tax increase on the American people at this stage, or any stage as far as I'm concerned. And, therefore, we need to make the tax relief permanent." 01/26/2004
· "Because of a quirk in the legislation, the tax cuts are scheduled to go away unless we act. When we passed tax relief, Americans did not expect to see higher taxes sneak through the back door. If Congress is interested in job creation, they will make every one of the tax cuts permanent." 10/16/2003
· "We believe that the tax relief plan we have in place is robust enough to encourage job growth." 08/13/2003
WAR ON TERROR
? In 2001, President Bush and the U.S. led the effort to overthrow the Taliban regime that gave safe harbor to the Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan.
· In 2003, a U.S.-led coalition liberated Iraq.
· Bush has pledged to continue hunting down terrorists in other operations worldwide and crack down on terrorists' financing.
QUOTES ON WAR ON TERROR
? "My opponent says that going to war with the terrorists is actually improving their recruiting efforts. I think the logic is upside-down. I think that shows a misunderstanding of the enemy... See, we don't create terrorists by fighting back. We defeat the terrorists by fighting back." 08/12/2004
· "As the American people look at this election, they must take a look at the candidates and determine who best understands the lessons to be learned from September the 11th. Another lesson is, is that we must deal with threats before they fully materialize." 08/09/2004
· "So September the 11th was a tough hurdle to overcome. We will overcome it because we're a strong, resolute nation. And we will overcome it by staying on the offensive and bringing these killers to justice before they harm America again." 04/26/2004
· "Over the last several decades, we've seen that any concession or retreat on our part will only embolden this enemy and invite more bloodshed. And the enemy has seen, over the last 31 months, that we will no longer live in denial or seek to appease them. For the first time, the civilized world has provided a concerted response to the ideology of terror — a series of powerful, effective blows." 04/13/2004
· "My administration is meeting the tests of our time. Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got. We've captured or killed many of the key leaders of the al Qaeda network, and the rest of them know we're on their trail." 01/08/2004
· "In Afghanistan and in Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more." 01/05/2004
· "Remember this is-Iraq is a battle in the war on terror. The war on terror is being fought on many fronts, and some of them obviously more visible than others." 12/15/2003
· "The war on terror continues. The enemy is not idle, and neither are we. We will not tire, we will not stop, until this danger to civilization is removed." 01/08/2004
· "We are at war. And the war on terror is, is the challenge of the 21st century. And we must win the war. And there are different fronts on the war on terror. And I will continue to do what I think is necessary to win that war." 12/16/2003
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