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Tom Vilsack
Governor, Iowa
Assumed office: January 15, 1999 - January 12, 2007
Born: December 13, 1950
(age 56)
Political Party: Democratic
Religion: Roman Catholic
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Given up for adoption at birth, Tom Vilsack spent the first months of his
life in a Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born and raised
an outsider, Tom has always supported the underdog and been willing to take
chances.
After growing up in Pittsburgh, Tom attended Hamilton College in New York
where he met Christie Bell. He and Christie married in 1973, and following
Tom’s graduation from Albany Law School in 1975, they moved to Christie’s
hometown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. There, Tom worked as a lawyer and coached
little league and 9th grade football. In 1987, after Mount Pleasant’s mayor
was tragically murdered, Tom was elected mayor in his place. He served five
years before being elected in 1992 to the Iowa State Senate. Tom and
Christie raised their two adult sons, Jess and Doug, in Mount Pleasant.
In 1998, Tom launched a long-shot bid for Iowa governor, scored an upset
victory in the Democratic primary and then overcame a 25-point deficit in
the general-election campaign to become the first Democrat elected governor
of Iowa in 32 years. In 2006, Tom kept his promise to serve only two terms
and then worked to elect Democrat Chet Culver as his successor. Tom also
successfully helped to elect a Democratic State House and Senate in 2006.
As chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Tom led Democrats to
statehouse victories across the United States in 2004.
As Governor of Iowa, Tom improved Iowa schools, expanded health care
coverage to 90,000 uninsured children, and made the state a national leader
in renewable energy – all while balancing the budget and providing targeted
tax relief to working families.
As a presidential candidate, Tom was the first to announce his candidacy,
the first to oppose the Bush-McCain Doctrine of escalating the war in Iraq
and the first to demand that Congress use its spending power under the
Constitution to bring U.S. fighting to an end in Iraq.
As an outsider with a proven record of success, Tom will win the general
election and lead America in a new direction by strengthening our schools,
setting our nation on the road to energy security and guaranteeing every
American access to quality, affordable health care. |
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