Page 22 CQToday,Thursday, November 4, 2004 COLORADO FLORIDA Ken Salazar, D Mel Martinez, R Election: Defeated Pete Coors, R, to Election: Defeated Betty Castor, D, to succeed Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R, succeed Bob Graham, D, who retired who retired Home: Orlando Home: Denver Born: Oct. 23, 1946, Sagua La Grande, Born: March 2, 1955, Alamosa, Colo. Cuba Religion: Roman Catholic Religion: Roman Catholic Family: Wife, Hope Salazar; two children Family: Wife, Kitty Martinez; three children Education: Colorado College, B.A. 1977; Education: Orlando Junior College, A.A. U. of Michigan, J.D. 1981 1967; Florida State U., B.A. 1969, J.D. 1973 Career: Lawyer; ice cream shop owner; gubernatorial aide; farmer Career: Lawyer Political Highlights: Colo. Natural Resources Department execu- Political Highlights: Sought Republican nomination for lieutenant tive director, 1990-94; Colo. attorney general, 1999-present governor, 1994; Orange County chairman, 1998-2001; U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary, 2001-03 In a state that prizes rugged individualism and homespun Florida’s newest senator was 12 years old and living in a small living, Ken Salazar has a background that fits hand in Cuban coastal town when Fidel Castro installed himself as dic- glove. tator of the island nation off Florida’s coast. Mel Martinez, a de- Salazar, who portrays himself as a Hispanic everyman vout Catholic, soon found himself a victim of religious and po- and a fiscally conservative consensus-builder, grew up on a litical persecution. ranch that had no electricity in Colorado’s mountainous At 15, he left Cuba as part of “Operation Pedro Pan,” a San Luis Valley. The ranch has been in his family since joint effort of the U.S. government and the church to free 1850. Catholic children from Castro’s regime. Martinez speculates His background led him to play an active role in environ- that it may have been one of the first public-private “faith mental, water rights and land resources issues, particularly based” initiatives, an idea that later would become dear to during his tenure as Colorado’s attorney general and head of both Martinez and President Bush, a close political ally. its Department of Natural Resources. The journey helped form his attitude toward international “Once you are born into a ranching and farming family, affairs — he supports Bush’s approach to foreign policy, from you develop a special relationship and a special sense of the war on terror to the embargo on Cuba. “My understanding place through the ditches and the rivers and the trees,” of good and evil in the world was based on that experience,” Salazar said at a recent debate with defeated rival Pete Martinez said in an Oct. 23 interview. “My understanding of Coors. America being a beacon of hope in the world, a positive force Salazar, a lifelong sportsman, believes in conservation in the world, comes from that immigrant experience.” and has been a strong supporter of renewable energy. Martinez grew up in a series of foster homes in the Orlando He is against allowing drilling in Alaska’s Arctic Nation- area and was not reunited with his family until adulthood. Af- al Wildlife Refuge. However, he has said he supports in- ter law school, he became active in the Cuban expatriate com- creasing petroleum production, in general, as long as envi- munity that plays a central role in Florida’s economic and po- ronmental concerns are adequately addressed. litical landscape. But he was a relative latecomer to politics. On fiscal issues, Salazar is aligned with most Coloradans, Martinez spent 20 years building a succession of law firms in who tend toward conservatism in spending decisions. He Orlando before losing a race for the Republican lieutenant gu- has said he would support making some of President Bush’s bernatorial nomination in 1994. In 1998, he was elected to the tax cuts permanent but only those that benefit the middle office of Orange County chairman, where he won notice for class. He has said he supports overhauling estate tax laws, the “Martinez Doctrine,” a growth-management policy that “so that family businesses can stay in the family.” He does tied the approval of new homes to school construction. not support privatizing Medicare. In 2001, Bush tapped Martinez to lead the Department of On the war in Iraq, Salazar has agreed with the Demo- Housing and Urban Development. There, he launched a cratic Party line that the war has been mishandled but that HUD Center for Faith-Based and Community Services, an withdrawing troops prematurely would be devastating. In- office intended to help religious-oriented organizations com- stead, he has said, America must rebuild its international pete for federal grants. His stay in the Cabinet was short-lived; coalitions. he left at the end of 2003 to run for the Senate at Bush’s urging. Salazar supports stronger border enforcement and has As a senator, Martinez said he will support much of Bush’s said he would like to see a crackdown on human trafficking. domestic agenda. His preferred committee assignment would In the ongoing debate over whether gay people should be Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which regu- be allowed to marry, Salazar’s position is similar to John lates housing and financial issues, and from which he could Kerry’s. Salazar has said marriage should be between a man pursue his goal of creating a new, more powerful regulator for and a woman, but he does not support a constitutional the government-sponsored mortgage financiers Fannie Mae amendment banning same-sex marriage. and Freddie Mac. Senate leaders have warned him that Salazar supports drug reimportation and empowering the banking “is a tough committee to get on,” Martinez said. He federal government to bargain for lower prescription drug is also interested in two other popular assignments: Foreign prices. Relations and Judiciary. CQToday,Thursday, November 4, 2004 Page 23 GEORGIA ILLINOIS Johnny Isakson, R Barack Obama, D Election: Defeated Rep. Denise L. Majette, Election: Defeated Alan Keyes, R, to D, to succeed Zell Miller, D, who retired succeed Peter G. Fitzgerald, R, who retired Home: Marietta Home: Chicago Born: Dec. 28, 1944, Atlanta, Ga. Born: Aug. 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii Religion: Methodist Religion: United Church of Christ Family: Wife, Dianne; three children Family: Wife, Michelle Obama; two children Education: U. of Georgia, B.B.A. 1966 Education: Occidental College, attended Military: Ga. Air National Guard, 1966-72 1979-81; Columbia U., B.A. 1983; Harvard Career: Real estate company president U., J.D. 1991 Political Highlights: Candidate for Cobb County Commission, Career: Lawyer; voter registration and education project director; 1974; Ga. House, 1977-90; GOP nominee for governor, 1990; Ga. community outreach organizer; business reporter Senate, 1993-96; sought nomination for U.S. Senate, 1996; Ga. Political Highlights: Ill. Senate, 1997-present; sought Democratic Board of Education chairman, 1996-99; U.S. House, 1999-present nomination for U.S. House, 2000 A pragmatic consensus-builder who has demonstrated a taste Few have entered the Senate to as much fanfare as Barack for bipartisan dealmaking, Johnny Isakson is positioned to Obama, whose celebrity status following his widely praised play a prominent Senate role on issues including education. Democratic convention keynote address led party officials to Isakson — chairman of the Georgia Board of Education send him on the campaign trail to promote other Democrats from 1996-99 — played an important role in guiding and even predict that the White House is in his future. through the House the education overhaul of 2001. He Obama has already won friends among his new colleagues helped provide the impetus for compromise in the con- by transferring more than $268,000 of his unneeded cam- tentious debate over President Bush’s education plan and paign funds to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Com- said he will continue to try to find agreements on other is- mittee and specific candidates. The DSCC will almost cer- sues, including higher education funding and education of tainly want to harness his star power for future campaigns. children with disabilities. “If there’s anything in my history, For now, however, Obama — whose Swahili first name it’s that I’m going to work for people first and work with roughly translates to “blessed by God” — will concentrate whomever wants to work with me,” Isakson said recently. on serving Illinois in the Senate. He is only the third black “These types of issues cannot be solved in [a] vacuum of par- senator in the past century and the first since Illinois Demo- tisanship. I don’t say everyone on our side has all the an- crat Carol Moseley Braun, who was elected in 1992 but de- swers [and that] theirs has none.” feated after a single term. During 17 years as a state legislator, Isakson’s reputation “I am rooted in the African-American community, but I was that of an arbitrator capable of bridging factions within am not limited to it,” Obama frequently has said. his party and forging links with state Democrats. Health care is perhaps the biggest legislative priority for Although he is a conservative, Isakson is not captive to Obama, who chaired the Public Health and Welfare Com- ideology. He sometimes takes a more moderate stance than mittee in the state Senate. He wants to increase funding for other conservatives on social issues. He opposes amending children’s health care, overhaul the 2003 Medicare prescrip- the Constitution to ban abortion and was wary of Bush’s plan tion drug law to allow the federal government to negotiate to partially privatize Social Security. the best price for medications; allow individuals to buy into Isakson, who owned an Atlanta real estate company, is a the Medicare system at age 55; provide tax credits to small country club Republican who believes in entrepreneurship and businesses that provide health coverage for their workers; low taxes.