Elected 1978, seat up 2002 Born: Dec. 11, 1941, Helena Home: Helena Education: Stanford U., B.A. 1964, LL.B. 1967 Religion: Protestant Marital Status: married (Wanda)

Career:

• Political: MT House of Reps., 1973-74; U.S. House of Reps., 1974-78.
• Professional: Staff atty., Civil Aeronautics Bd., 1967-69; Legal Asst., Securities & Exchange Comm., 1969-71; Practicing atty., 1971-74.

DC Office: 511 HSOB 20510, 202-224-2651; Fax: 202-224-1974; Web site: www.senate.gov/~baucus

State Offices: Billings, 406-657-6790; Bozeman,406-586-6104; Butte,406-782-8700; Great Falls,406-761-1574; Helena,406-449-5480; Kalispell,406-756-1150; Missoula,406-329-3123.

Committees:

• Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry: Marketing, Inspection & Product Promotion (Chmn.); Production & Price Competitiveness.
• Environment & Public Works: Fisheries, Wildlife & Water; Transportation, Infrastructure & Nuclear Safety.
• Finance (Chmn.): International Trade (Chmn.); Long-Term Growth & Debt Reduction; Taxation & IRS Oversight.
• Joint Committee on Taxation (Vice Chmn. of 5 Sens.).

Max Baucus, now in his fourth term, is from a well-known Montana ranching family; his great-grandfather Henry Sieben started the huge Sieben Ranch in 1897. Baucus grew up on a 125,000-acre ranch near Helena, graduated from college and law school at Stanford, then worked at the SEC in Washington, returned home in 1971 and was executive director of the state constitutional convention in 1972. In 1973 he served in the state House. In 1974, at 32, he won the western House seat (Montana had two House seats until 1992) by walking 600 miles along highways through the district and beating three past or future holders of it (Democrats Pat Williams and Arnold Olsen in the primary and Republican Richard Shoup in the general). He won his Senate seat in 1978 by easily beating an appointed senator in the primary and a conservative Republican investment adviser in the general. He has had a moderate to liberal voting record.

With his 22 years of seniority and the retirement of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Baucus has become the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He is also the second ranking Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which he chaired in 1993-94. On Finance he has taken a lead role on trade issues. He has been a leading advocate of normal trade relations with China, a potentially huge market for Montana wheat. He stresses that Montana does business all over the world: Corporate Air in Billings contracts for FedEx in the Philippines; Montana State University's TechLink is selling locust control products for plague in Madagascar. In 2000 he led the fight for approval of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China. In the spring he worked against the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act as an obstacle to PNTR, and in September fought against the Thompson-Torricelli amendment, which would have penalized Chinese companies that traffic in nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and would have required an annual review of Chinese weapon proliferation. "It's too strong, too draconian and aimed too narrowly on China alone," he said; the amendment lost 65-32. PNTR was soon approved, and Baucus responded by calling, with Pat Roberts of Kansas, for an end to the trade embargo on Cuba. In March 2001 he and Sander Levin called for a free trade pact with Jordan.

On taxes, Baucus has favored some tax cuts but has had problems with Republican proposals. He worked for a tax credit for small domestic oil and gas producers in September 2000. But he opposed the Abraham amendment to suspend gas taxes in July 2000. In March 2000 he opposed the Republican marriage penalty tax cut as overly broad. In June 2000 he supported a prescription drug plan sponsored by Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Lincoln Chafee. In February 2001 he and top Finance Republican Charles Grassley said they would not act on President's Bush's campaign proposal to restructure Medicare but instead try to add prescription drug benefits to the program; "We really mean it when we say we want to work together," said Baucus of their relationship. Early in the 107th Congress, the Finance chairman and the ranking minority member co-sponsored legislation to create permanent tax deductions for student loan payments as well as a multibillion-dollar package to promote retirement savings. After being targeted by Republican ad campaigns--as well as being lobbied on a personal visit by Bush--Baucus in April 2001 was one of 15 Senate Democrats to vote for a $1.3 trillion tax cut.

Baucus has been a pivotal player on key issues. In March 1993, he opposed the Clinton proposal to raise grazing fees and impose a 12.5% mining royalty on federal land and Clinton eventually buckled. After initial qualms, he supported the Republican welfare reform in 1996. In the runup to the 1996 election, he switched and supported the balanced budget amendment. He worked successfully for education tax credits in 1998, for the first $1,000 and half the second $1,000 of college costs. In 1999 he opposed the Clinton government-invested USA accounts and proposed his own Y2Save private accounts instead. In April 2000 he spoke against proposed restrictions on dissemination of EPA data on toxic chemicals. In September 2000 he and Republican Bob Smith moved for one-year study of independent reviews by the Army Corps of Engineers. In March 2001 he was one of six Democrats to vote to kill the Clinton administration'srule on ergonomics and was one of six to support the Frist-Breaux proposal to remove the soft-money ban from McCain-Feingold.

When Baucus came to the Senate, there were six Democratic and eight Republican senators from the Rocky Mountain states; today he is one of only three Democrats from the region. The increasing conservatism of Montana voters and resentment at Clinton environmental policies have put him in an uncomfortable position. He supported the Clinton Administration moratorium on mining in the Rocky Mountain Front north of Helena. He was the only Senate Democrat to oppose a resolution calling for gun control legislation by Memorial Day 2000. Baucus was neutral on the Clinton proposal to give national monument status to the 149-mile Missouri River Breaks area, which Republican Conrad Burns strongly opposed. He sponsored a federal study of a Clinton proposal to stop anti-erosion efforts on the Yellowstone River, which Burns also opposed. In May 2000 he said a proposed ban on snowmobiles in national parks "goes too far" and is "a bit premature." On the 1998 transportation bill, he worked for a funding formula much more favorable to Montana than the House version; it gave Montana a 60% increase. He tried unsuccessfully in September 2000 to block Christopher Bond's efforts to prevent an increase in the springtime flow of the Missouri River.

Baucus has campaigned vigorously across Montana--in 1995-96 he walked 820 miles across the state and shook thousands of hands; he makes a practice of working a full day at a different job every month. He was re-elected by wide margins in 1984 and 1990, but in 1996, as the state seemed to be moving right, he was targeted by Republicans. His opponent, then-Lieutenant Governor Dennis Rehberg, called for term limits and attacked Baucus for voting for the 1993 tax increase and the assault weapons ban (he voted for the 1994 crime bill). ''Max takes three sides of a two-sided issue,'' he said. Baucus responded that Rehberg was a ''special interest'' candidate backing billions in tax breaks for the rich and that the Republican balanced budget would produce ''cuts'' in Medicare and student loans. Polls showed Baucus in the lead throughout, hovering around 50%, and he benefited from a huge money advantage: $4.2 million to Rehberg's $1.3 million. But in the end Baucus won by just 50%-45%, his closest showing ever.

Baucus comes up for re-election in 2002. His position on the Finance Committee will likely be an asset. But he may encounter serious opposition. Some have speculated that a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a former top aide may hurt him, but it was "dismissed with prejudice" in March 2001 by a federal judge.

Cook's Call:
Competitive. Montana keeps getting tougher and tougher for Democrats--Gore won only 33% here--and early polls suggest that Baucus' support is dangerously thin. Baucus has survived strong challengers in the past, but Republicans are working hard to recruit a first-tier opponent. If they succeed, this race has the potential to become one of the closest in the cycle.

Group Ratings
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2000	85	57	85	57	73	100	13	46	16	6	15
1999	95	--	100	78	75	--	7	59	4	--	--

National Journal Ratings
	1999 LIB	--	1999 CONS		2000 LIB	--	2000 CONS
Economic	75%	--	20%		80%	--	18%
Social	59%	--	40%		56%	--	43%
Foreign	87%	--	0%		72%	--	15%

Key Votes of the 106th Congress
1. Educ. Savings Accts. N 2. Prescrip. Drug Benefit Y 3. Delay Ergonomic Standards N 4. Phase Out Estate Tax N 5. Review Movie Violence N 6. Gun Show Bckgrnd. Checks N		7. Ban Part.-Birth Abortion N  8. Broaden Hate Crimes List Y  9. NATO War in Serbia Y 10. Table Cuba Travel Ban N 11. Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Y 12. Perm. Trade with China Y

Election Results
1996 general	Max Baucus (D)	201,935	(50%)
	Dennis Rehberg (R)	182,111	(45%)
	Becky Shaw (Reform)	19,276	(5%)
1996 primary	Max Baucus (D)	unopposed
1990 general	Max Baucus (D)	217,563	(68%)
	Allen C. Kolstad (R)	93,836	(29%)
	Other	7,937	(2%)

Campaign Finance
1996	Receipts	Receipts from PACs	Expenditures
Max Baucus (D)			$4,280,747
Dennis Rehberg (R)			$1,358,165