Sen. Thomas Carper (D) Elected 2000, 1st term up 2006
Born:	Jan. 23, 1947, Beckley, WV
Home:	Wilmington
Education:	OH St. U., B.A. 1968, U. of DE, M.B.A. 1975
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Martha)
Elected  Office:	DE Treas., 1976-82; U.S. House of Reps., 1982-92; DE Gov. 1992-2000.
Military Career:	Navy, 1968-73 (Vietnam); Naval Reserves, 1973-91.
Professional Career:	Industrial Devel. Specialist, DE Div. of Econ. Devel., 1975-76.
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Democrat Thomas Carper was elected Delaware's junior senator in 2000, after already serving 24 years in statewide elective office. His election meant that Delaware has two Democratic senators for the first time since January 1943. He grew up in southside Virginia and Ohio and went to college in Ohio. He first came to Delaware as an ensign in the Navy, then returned to get his M.B.A after service in Southeast Asia, where he served as a mission commander piloting submarine-hunting planes. In 1976, he was elected state treasurer, at 29; he ran for Congress in 1982 and beat a scandal-tarred incumbent. In the House, Carper had a moderate voting record and worked to let banks into the securities business and to prevent ocean sludge dumping, both causes supported by Delaware constituencies. In 1992, when Republican Governor Mike Castle had served his two allotted terms and ran for Congress, Carper ran for governor and won the general with 65%.

As governor, Carper pursued an agenda in many ways more conservative than liberal. He continued his Republican predecessor Pete du Pont's policy of cutting taxes, reducing income tax rates about 10% and also cutting small business and utility taxes. Revenues kept gushing in from Delaware's strong economy, and he increased the ''rainy day'' fund and boosted the state's credit rating to an historic high even as state spending rose 40% in eight years. He inherited Castle's standard-based education reform, raised standards, started testing students in 1998 and provided public school choice, utilized by 8% of students, tried to raise teacher salaries, instituted charter schools and passed a teacher accountability bill in 2000. He has tried to take action against chicken waste, a major problem in southern Delaware and called for a business-friendly ''new environmentalism.'' His major defeats came when the legislature voted in 1996 to allow slot machines at harness racing tracks over his opposition. He was re-elected by 70%-30% over then-Treasurer Janet Rzewnicki. Barred from a third term, he was an obvious candidate for the Senate seat held by Republican William Roth since 1970.

This was a battle of positives. Both candidates had very high approval ratings, and both were familiar figures to many voters; they brought a combined total of 58 years in statewide office to the race. Roth had a record of achievements that paid direct benefits to people in this generally affluent state: The Kemp-Roth tax cut of 1981, the Roth IRAs enacted in 1997, the reform of the Internal Revenue Service passed in 1998, $2.3 billion for capital improvements in Amtrak in 1998 and $10 billion in bonds in 2000. Roth's main problem was that he was 79 in 2000. After serving as head of the National Governors Association, Carper announced that he was running for the Senate in September 1999. A poll that month showed him ahead 48%-38%. Carper was careful not to campaign negatively against Roth or to attack him for his age, but his slogan "A Senator for Our Future" spotlighted the contrast between their ages and his 16-hour days of campaigning at factories, bowling alleys and parades was a contrast with Roth, who stayed in Washington legislating much of the time and made many fewer campaign appearances with his trademark St. Bernards. "People can be too old, or senior, at 59. The question is whether people are effective. I think that his effectiveness has waned," Carper said. As Roth unveiled initiatives--Amtrak funding, a program to aid states to pay for prescription drugs for low-income seniors--Carper suggested that Roth's tax cuts were too large and his prescription drug plan too stingy. Roth, able to raise large sums as Finance chairman, outspent Carper by $4.3 million to $2.5 million, but the Democratic Party spent some $4 million of soft money in Delaware, more than evening the score. In October, Roth fainted twice on the campaign trail, once in full view of cameras. Polls showed the race close to even in September and October, but on November 7 Carper won by a solid 56%-44% margin. This was nearly a carbon copy of Al Gore's 55%-42% margin in the state; Carper ran especially well with younger voters, and with those who were married with children.

In the Senate, Carper has a moderate voting record and supports centrist proposals. He voted with Republicans on farm spending and the tax cut in budget resolution votes in April 2001. With five Republicans and five other Democrats he moved unsuccessfully to condition the Bush tax cut on deficit reduction. In June 2001 he and Judd Gregg got $125 million for public school choice programs and $400 million for charter schools. In June 2001 he got a seat on the Energy Committee and urged the big automakers to develop fuel cells; he lost the seat when Democrats lost their majority. With Arlen Specter, he sponsored a bill to require the Transportation Department to reduce oil consumption by 1 million barrels per day by 2015. He voted with Jim Jeffords to impose on old power plants the standards of the Clean Air Act. But he also put forward, with Lincoln Chafee, John Breaux and Max Baucus, a milder bill that would not impose those standards on old plants when remodeled and require 2001 levels of carbon dioxide by 2012. With Evan Bayh he backed reauthorization of the 1996 welfare act with the work or school requirement raised from 50% to 70% of caseload; the Senate bill approved by the Finance Committee, but never passed, included some provisions he sought--funding transitional jobs, funding for abstinence programs and revocation of passports for those delinquent in child support payments. On homeland security, he sought unsuccessfully to get $1.2 billion for rail security.

Carper said he was "bitterly disappointed" when Democrats lost their majority and because moderate Democrats lost in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and New Hampshire. In December 2002 he was one of those starting a group of Senate New Democrats chaired by Bob Graham.

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DC Office
513 HSOB 20510, 202-224-2441; Fax: 202-228-2190; Web site: carper.senate.gov

State Offices
Dover, 302-674-3308; Georgetown,302-856-7690; Wilmington,302-573-6291.

Committees

• Aging (Special).
• Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs: Financial Institutions; Housing & Transportation; International Trade & Finance.
• Environment & Public Works: Clean Air, Climate Change & Nuclear Safety (RMM); Superfund & Waste Management.
• Governmental Affairs: Financial Management, Budget & International Security; Government Management, Federal Workforce & the District of Columbia; Investigations (Permanent).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	80	40	75	59	98	62	26	50	25	15	--
2001	90	--	92	63	--	--	21	58	24	--	20

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	59%	--	40%		73%	--	20%
Social	81%	--	8%		56%	--	38%
Foreign	61%	--	27%		59%	--	38%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Expand Patients' Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Permit ANWR Development N 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution Y  8. Overseas Military Abortions Y  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2000 general	Thomas Carper (D)	181,387	56%	$2,608,942
	William V. Roth Jr. (R)	142,683	44%	$4,366,884
	Other	2,144	1%
2000 primary	Thomas Carper (D)	unopposed
1994 general	William V. Roth Jr. (R)	111,088	56%	$2,310,474
	Charles M. Oberly III (D)	84,554	42%	$1,561,440
	Other	3,387	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1990 House (66%); 1988 House (68%); 1986 House (66%); 1984 House (59%); 1982 House (52%)