Bill Frist

William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee and a cardiac surgeon. Since 2003, he has served as Senate Majority Leader. He is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Entering politics

Though he was a public policy major in college, Frist was late to take an interest in politics; he did not vote for the first time until he was 36. In 1990, he met with former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker about the possibilities of public office. Baker advised him to pursue the Senate, and in 1992 suggested that Frist begin preparations for a U.S. Senate election, 1994. Frist began to build support. He served on Tennessee's Governor's Medicaid Task Force from 1992 to 1993, the Republican National Committee's Health Care Coalition's National Steering Committee, George H.W. Bush-Dan Quayle '92, and was deputy director of the Tennessee Bush-Quayle '92 campaign. As part of Frist's preparations for political office, in December 1993 he ended his membership in Nashville, Tennessee's racially segregated Belle Meade Country Club, which he had joined in the 1980s following family tradition.

Related Topics:
1990 - Howard Baker - 1992 - U.S. Senate election, 1994 - Medicaid - 1993 - George H.W. Bush - Dan Quayle - Nashville, Tennessee - Belle Meade Country Club - 1980s

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During his first campaign, Frist repeatedly accused his opponent, incumbent Senator Jim Sasser, of "sending Tennessee money to Washington, DC, to Marion Barry ... While I've been transplanting lungs and hearts to heal Tennesseans, Jim Sasser has been transplanting Tennesseans' wallets to Washington, home of Marion Barry." During that campaign, he also attacked Sasser for his attempt to become Senate Majority Leader, claiming that his opponent would be spending more time taking care of Senate business than Tennessee business. Frist won the election, defeating incumbent Sasser in the devastating (to Democrats) 1994 Republican sweep of both Houses of Congress by 13 points, thus becoming the first physician in the Senate since 1928. There were claims that Frist had used Barry and other symbolic issues to appeal to Tennessee's Southern conservative, relatively unenlightened, white majority; the Frist camp denied it.

Related Topics:
Jim Sasser - Washington, DC - Marion Barry - 1928

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In U.S. Senate election, 2000, Frist easily won reelection with 66 percent of the vote. He was elected by the largest vote total ever received by a candidate for statewide election in the history of Tennessee, although Al Gore won a higher percentage of the vote (70%) in his 1990 Senate re-election.

Related Topics:
U.S. Senate election, 2000 - Al Gore

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