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Bob Kasten

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Bob Kasten
United States Senator
from Wisconsin
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993
Preceded byGaylord Nelson
Succeeded byRuss Feingold
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 9th district
In office
January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979
Preceded byGlenn R. Davis
Succeeded byJim Sensenbrenner
Member of the Wisconsin Senate
from the 4th district
In office
January 1, 1973 – January 3, 1975
Preceded byNile Soik
Succeeded byJim Sensenbrenner
Personal details
Born
Robert Walter Kasten Jr.

(1942-06-19) June 19, 1942 (age 82)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Eva Jean Nimmons, Sarah Kasten
EducationUniversity of Arizona (BA)
Columbia University (MBA)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Air Force
Years of service1966-1972
UnitWisconsin Air National Guard

Robert Walter Kasten Jr. (born June 19, 1942) is an American Republican politician from the state of Wisconsin who served as a U.S. Representative from 1975 to 1979 and as a United States Senator from 1981 to 1993.

Background

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Kasten was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Country Day School before graduating in 1960 from The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1964 from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and received his M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1966. He served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972.[1]

Elected office

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Kasten was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1972. In 1974, he was elected to the House of Representatives after defeating incumbent Glenn R. Davis in a Republican primary election. He was reelected in 1976. He ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1978, but lost the Republican nomination to Lee S. Dreyfus, who went on to win the general election.

Kasten ran for the United States Senate in 1980 and narrowly defeated Democrat and incumbent Senator Gaylord Nelson. The victory was propelled in part by the popularity of Ronald Reagan at the top of the Republican ticket. In the Senate, Kasten was an outspoken conservative. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate since Alexander Wiley left office in 1963.

In 1985, Kasten was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a District of Columbia police officer observed him running a red light and driving on the wrong side of the road.[2] The DUI charges were later dropped.[3]

In 1986, Kasten narrowly defeated Democrat Ed Garvey to win a second term after a very bitter campaign, one that was characterized by personal attacks and is remembered as one of the nastiest elections in Wisconsin history.[4] Kasten was defeated by Democratic state Senator Russ Feingold in 1992.

Kasten voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto).[5][6][7] Kasten voted in favor of the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the Senate

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Since 1993, he has been President of Kasten & Company, a consulting firm. In July 2007, Kasten joined the presidential campaign of Republican Rudy Giuliani as a foreign policy adviser.[8] He chaired Giuliani's Wisconsin campaign, along with former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former State Senator Cathy Stepp.[9]

After Giuliani dropped out, Kasten endorsed his close friend and former Senate colleague John McCain.[10] In April 2016, Kasten endorsed Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for president in 2016, becoming part of Trump's foreign policy advisory team.[11]

Electoral history

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Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1992
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Russ Feingold 1,290,662 52.6
Republican Bob Kasten (incumbent) 1,129,599 46.0
Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob Kasten (incumbent) 754,573 50.9
Democratic Ed Garvey 702,963 47.4
Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, 1980
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob Kasten 1,106,311 50.2
Democratic Gaylord Nelson (incumbent) 1,065,487 48.3

Cultural references

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Writer Mike Baron named a recurring character in his Wisconsin-based comic book Badger after Kasten, then Wisconsin's junior senator. The character, a peg-legged, vampire-hunting pig named "Senator Bob Kasten", made several appearances in the series.[12][better source needed] A student political party on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus satirically named themselves the "Bob Kasten School of Driving" (a reference to his DUI arrest); it won the campus-wide elections in 1986 and 1987.[13]

References

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  1. ^ 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1991-1992,' Biographical Sketch of Robert W. Kasten, pg. 11
  2. ^ "Sen. Kasten Accused of Driving While Drunk". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1985. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  3. ^ "Indictments--A Grand Congressional Tradition Since 1798". Los Angeles Times. 5 June 1994. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  4. ^ Raymond Coffey (October 31, 1986). "Wisconsin Race Hits Low Road". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  5. ^ "To Pass H.R. 3706. (Motion Passed) See Note(s) 19".
  6. ^ "To Pass S 557, Civil Rights Restoration Act, a Bill to Restore the Broad Coverage and Clarify Four Civil Rights Laws by Providing that If One Part of An Institution Is Federally Funded, Then the Entire Institution Must Not Discriminate".
  7. ^ "To Adopt, Over the President's Veto of S 557, Civil Rights Restoration Act, a Bill to Restore Broad Coverage of Four Civil Rights Laws by Declaring that If One Part of An Institution Receives Federal Funds, Then the Entire Institution Must Not Discriminate. Two-Thirds of The Senate, Having Voted in The Affirmative, Overrode the Presidential Veto".
  8. ^ Craig Gilbert; Katherine M. Skiba; Audrey Hoffe (July 21, 2007). "Former Wisconsin senator joins Giuliani's team". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  9. ^ "Regional News Briefs". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. August 30, 2007. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  10. ^ "Former Wisconsin Senator Bob Kasten Endorses John McCain".
  11. ^ Gilbert, Craig (February 13, 2008). "Former GOP Sen. Bob Kasten joins Trump foreign policy team". blog.4president.org. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  12. ^ "Senator Bob Kasten". Internationalhero.co.uk. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  13. ^ "Ex-UW Student Prez up for 'Annie'". The Capital Times, January 24, 2005.
[edit]
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 9th congressional district
1975–1979 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 3) from Wisconsin
1981–1993
Served alongside: William Proxmire, Herb Kohl 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Ranking Member of the Senate Small Business Committee
1991–1993 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
(Class 3)
1980, 1986, 1992 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference
1991–1993 		Succeeded by
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas Former US Senator Order of precedence of the United States
as Former US Senator 		Succeeded byas Former US Senator
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