Bill Nelson Totally Explained

Everything about Bill Nelson totally explained

ť For other people named Bill Nelson, see Bill Nelson (disambiguation).

Clarence William "Bill" Nelson (born September 29, 1942) is the senior U.S. Senator from Florida. Nelson is a member of the Democratic Party. Nelson became the second sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as a Payload Specialist during NASA mission STS-61-C (January 12–18, 1986). Bill Nelson lives in the Baldwin Park neighborhood of Orlando [asdoes Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL)] and Washington.

Early life

Nelson was born in Miami to Nannie Merle and C. W. Nelson. In his youth, he served as the world's International President of Key Club. He attended the University of Florida for three years, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. During his time at Yale, Nelson was tapped for membership in the University's secret society, Book and Snake. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1965 to 1971. During this time, Nelson studied at the University of Virginia, where he received his law degree in 1968.
Nelson married Grace Cavert in 1972; they've two children: Bill Nelson, Jr. and Nan Ellen Nelson.

Early career

Nelson worked as a fire marshal and later as a lawyer before beginning his political career in the Florida House of Representatives. Nelson served in the state house from 1972 to 1979.

U.S. House of Representatives

Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991.
In 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of Congress (and the first from the House) to travel into space. He went through NASA training, along with Senator Jake Garn of Utah. He was a Payload Specialist on Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-61-C mission from January 12–18. Ten days after his return, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off. Nelson was originally scheduled to be on the Challenger flight that resulted in the destruction of the Challenger and the loss of the entire crew, but a scheduling conflict bumped him to an earlier launch.

1990–2000

In 1990, Nelson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida. He lost to former U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles, who went on to win the general election. During the primary campaign, Nelson tried to make an issue out of Chiles' health and age, a strategy that backfired on him in a state with a large population of retirees and senior citizens. Ironically, Chiles died in office in 1998.
From 1995 to 2000, Nelson was the Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida.

U.S. Senate

Election

In 2000, Nelson won the election for U.S. Senator from Florida, defeating then-Representative Bill McCollum, the Republican candidate. The election was to replace retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack.

Political actions and positions

Nelson has been a vocal opponent of oil drilling off Florida's coast. He supports allowing the government to negotiate for lower drug prices from pharmaceutical companies in the Medicare prescription drug program. He is generally regarded as a moderate, and was among the few Democrats to vote in favor of CAFTA. He has also voted in favor of tighter bankruptcy restrictions and abolishing the estate tax. Nelson has received a 75-percent rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League (External Link

). He has voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act as it had no exception for the life or health of the mother. (External Link

) He has also voted against a bill providing for criminal penalties for anyone harming an unborn child during the commission of a crime. (External Link

) In general, Nelson has high ratings from other left-of-center political action groups. (External Link

) Nelson has also introduced legislation banning paperless electronic voting machines (External Link

).
In 2007, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted on a measure to de-fund torture by the CIA except in "dire emergencies." Nelson was the lone Democrat to vote against the measure, but all Republicans voted against it as well, thus defeating it (External Link

).
Senator Nelson is also a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus

2006 re-election campaign

Mel Martinez, a Republican in a nominally red state.
Republican Rep. Katherine Harris won the Republican primary, and faced Nelson in the November general election. In an interview with Sean Hannity on March 15, 2006, Harris claimed that Nelson was a member of the ideological far-left and had taken bribes. She didn't state from whom, nor did she give any other specifics as to these allegations. Nelson is generally regarded as a moderate in Florida. James Dobson promised to launch a battle "from sea to shining sea" against Nelson's reelection if he participated in a filibuster of Bush's pro-government court nominees. Dobson has been joined by other activists, such as Randall Terry, because of his opposition to Samuel Alito and his refusal to join what were largely Republican efforts to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. The Schiavo incident prompted Brian Darling, a strategist in Mel Martinez's staff, to write the Schiavo memo that articulated a plan to use the Schiavo controversy as a campaign tool against Nelson in 2006. Darling resigned when it was traced to him, and Martinez apologized publicly to Nelson. (External Link

) Nelson was reelected as Senator on November 7, 2006 with 60 percent of the vote. His victory is the largest margin by a Democratic candidate in the state in many years.

Committee Assignments

Committee on Foreign Relations
- Subcommittee on African Affairs
- Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy and Human Rights (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs
Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
- Subcommittee on SeaPower
- Subcommittee on Strategic Forces (Chairman)
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
- Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety
- Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
- Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics, and Related Agencies (Chairman)
Committee on the Budget
Special Committee on Aging
Select Committee on Intelligence

Trip to Damascus

On December 13, 2006, Nelson went to Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This came following his appointment to the Senate Intelligence Committee. "He (Assad) stated that we in fact, have an interest, common interest, to stabilize Iraq. I think it's a crack in the door, and it's for discussions to continue," he said in a conference call from Amman, Jordan after meeting Assad in Damascus. The White House said that members of congress shouldn't be going to Syria. "I think it's a real stretch to think that the Syrians don't know where we stand or what we think. We have made it clear and we'll continue to make it clear," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. In the days following Nelson's meeting with Assad, Senator Arlen Specter flew to Syria and met with Assad. Specter wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer that emphasized the importance of such visits and reaffirmed Nelson's position that it was part of his constitutional duty.(External Link

)

Florida Primary Controversy

In 2007, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a measure that changed Florida's primary date to January 29, several weeks earlier than the previous date. The measure passed the Florida house by a vote of 118-0, and the senate by 37-2. (External Link

) This change was in violation of the Democratic National Committee's rules regarding state primary dates, which caused DNC Chairman Howard Dean to threaten to strip the state of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention if they didn't schedule the primary for a date that fell within the DNC's guidelines. Senator Nelson has been playing an active role in attempting to restore the delegates, going so far as to threaten a lawsuit against the DNC if an appropriate settlement isn't reached. (External Link

)

Electoral history

Footnotes

Further Information

Get more info on 'Bill Nelson'.

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