Editing Tom Daschle (section)

==United States Senate (1987–2005)==
[[File:Daschle Portrait.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Official Senate portrait by [[Aaron Shikler]]]]

In [[1986 United States Senate election in South Dakota|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 [[United States Senate Finance Committee|Finance Committee]].

[[File:TomDaschle1986Logo.png|thumb|right|Tom Daschle 1986 United States Senate Campaign Logo]]

===Party leadership===
In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator [[George J. Mitchell|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 [[1998 United States Senate election in South Dakota|in 1998]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

At various points in his career, he served on the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs|Veterans Affairs]], [[U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs|Indian Affairs]], [[U.S. Senate Committee on Finance|Finance]], and [[United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics|Ethics]] Committees.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

When the [[107th United States Congress|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 [[United States Constitution|constitutional]] capacity as [[ex officio]] [[President of the Senate#United States|President of the Senate]], and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. For the next 17 days, Daschle served as [[Senate Majority Leader]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Upon the commencement of the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|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;<ref>Entry for [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=J000072 James Merrill Jeffords] in the ''Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress''. (Accessed January 30, 2009.)</ref> this once again returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became majority leader.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

{{external media| float = left | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?179312-1/like-time ''Booknotes'' interview with Daschle on ''Like No Other Time'', November 30, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]}}
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.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

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.<ref>Tom Daschle and Michael D'Orso, ''Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever'', Crown, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-4955-4}}</ref> With Charles Robbins, he has also written the book ''The U.S. Senate'', part of the ''Fundamentals of American Government'' series.<ref name="Okla Hall">{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Dennie |title=Book review: 'The U.S. Senate' by Tom Daschle with Charles Robbins |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/books/2013/03/31/book-review-the-us-senate-by-tom-daschle-with-charles-robbins/60992093007/ |access-date=February 28, 2022 |work=The Oklahoman |date=March 31, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Congressman Tim Johnson Senator Tom Daschle US Capitol 1988.jpg|thumb|right|US Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Congressman Tim Johnson (D-SD) Constituent Service Meeting]]

===Anthrax case in 2001===
In October 2001, while he was the Senate Majority Leader, Daschle's office received a letter containing [[anthrax]], becoming a target of the [[2001 anthrax attacks]].<ref name=revkin>{{Cite news|last1=Revkin|first1=Andrew|title=A Nation Challenged: Tracing The Spores|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 18, 2001|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DC153EF93BA25753C1A9679C8B63}}</ref> Some of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed,<ref name="revkin"/> as well as several of Senator [[Russ Feingold]]'s staffers and Capitol police officers.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Stout|first1=David|title=House Will Shut Down Until Tuesday for Anthrax Screening|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 17, 2001|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/national/17CND-ANTH.html?ex=1227243600&en=18449a3d1c502305&ei=5070}}</ref> His suite at the [[Hart Senate Office Building]] was the focus of an intensive cleanup led by the [[Environmental Protection Agency]].<ref>“The Anthrax Cleanup of Capitol Hill.” Documentary by Xin Wang produced by the EPA Alumni Association. [http://www.epaalumni.org/history/video/interview.cfm?id=32 Video], [https://www.epaalumni.org/userdata/pdf/6C70838638374E92.pdf#page=8 Transcript] (see p8). May 12, 2015.</ref>

===Views on abortion===
Daschle has a mixed voting record on [[Abortion-rights movements|abortion-related]] issues, which led the [[United States pro-choice movement|pro-choice]] organization [[NARAL]] to give him a 50% vote rating.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/11/17/harry_reid/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207084842/http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/11/17/harry_reid/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2008|last=Green|first=Michael|title=Gambling on Harry Reid|date=November 17, 2004|work=Salon|access-date=November 20, 2008}}</ref>

In 1999 and 2003, Daschle voted in favor of the ban on [[partial-birth abortion]],<ref>{{USBill|106|S|1692|pipe=Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1999}}, [https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00340 Record Vote No: 340]</ref><ref>{{USBill|108|S|3|pipe=Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003}}, [https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00051 Record Vote No: 51]</ref> and supported legislation making it a crime to harm an unborn child when someone attacks a pregnant woman.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=B9F090EF-1321-AEAA-D3E4F888F0D20AC6|title=Daschle: Half Full or Half Empty?|last=Winters |first=Michael Sean|date=November 20, 2008 |publisher=America: The National Catholic Weekly|access-date=November 20, 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93385756|title=Anthrax Suspect's Abortion Stance Eyed As Motive|last=Temple-Raston|first=Dina|date=August 7, 2008|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=November 20, 2008}}</ref>

In 2003, Roman Catholic Bishop [[Robert James Carlson|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.<ref name=weeklystandard>{{cite web |last1=Bottum |first1=J. |title=Tom Daschle's Duty to Be Morally Coherent |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/3814 |website=The Weekly Standard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305140313/http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/3814 |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref>

===2004 Senate election===
{{Main|2004 United States Senate election in South Dakota}}
In the 2004 Senate election, [[John Thune]] defeated Daschle by 4,508 votes, 50.6% to 49.4%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2004/2004Stat.htm#41 |title=Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004|publisher=clerk.house.gov|access-date=October 26, 2011}}</ref> It was the first time that a Senate party leader had lost a bid for reelection since [[1952 United States Senate elections|1952]], when [[Barry Goldwater]] defeated [[Ernest McFarland]] in Arizona.<ref>{{cite book|title=2014 Almanac of American Politics |last2=Barone|first2=Chuck |last1=McCutcheon|first1=Michael|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|year=2013}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dewar |first1=Helen |title=In Break With Tradition, Frist Takes High-Stakes Fight to Daschle's Turf |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/04/19/in-break-with-tradition-frist-takes-high-stakes-fight-to-daschles-turf/cba815ae-8b66-4391-96d5-a0cc5f21fe65/ |access-date=12 October 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=19 April 2004}}</ref>

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 [[filibuster]]s 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]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Sheryl Gay|last=Stolberg|title=Daschle Defends Iraq Remarks|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 20, 2004|access-date=November 25, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/20/politics/20dakota.html}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stolberg|first=Sheryl Gay|date=2004-11-03|title=Daschle, Democratic Senate Leader, Is Beaten|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/politics/campaign/daschle-democratic-senate-leader-is-beaten.html|access-date=2021-04-08|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>