Sen. Don Nickles (R) Elected 1980, 4th term up 2004
Born:	Dec. 6, 1948, Ponca City
Home:	Ponca City
Education:	OK St. U., B.A. 1971
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Linda)
Elected  Office:	OK Senate, 1978-80.
Military Career:	OK Natl. Guard, 1970-76.
Professional Career:	V. P. & Gen. Mgr., Nickles Machine Co., 1976-80.
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Don Nickles was first elected in 1980. He grew up in Ponca City, and, after his father died when he was 13, worked his way through Oklahoma State as a janitor making minimum wage; he then returned to Ponca City and helped run the family machine business. In 1978, at 29, he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate; two years later, he ran for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Henry Bellmon. With support from Christian conservatives, he won 35% in a multi-candidate primary and 65% in the runoff; in the general, he won 53%-44%, and at 31 became the youngest Republican ever elected to the Senate. It was a signal that conservative Republicanism was the prevailing current of opinion in Oklahoma, just as Nickles's rise to a Senate leadership post is a signal of conservative Republican strength there.

In the Senate, Nickles has been a stalwart for conservative principles--"the keeper of the conservative flame," as CongressDaily put it. He ascribes his views to his experience running a small business. ''I'm a strong proponent and believer in the free enterprise system. … I built up a business that was almost bankrupt. If I see government causing problems or doing things that interfere with personal freedom or economic freedom or religious freedom, I feel very strongly that we should get involved and try to change it.'' In his early years in the Senate, Nickles backed the successful fights to deregulate oil and natural gas prices, to repeal the windfall profits tax, and to repeal the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. He takes sometimes lonely stands--against the confirmation of Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke in 1999, against $15 billion in aid to farmers and against outlawing Section 527 campaign organizations in 2000, against the education bill in June 2001. He opposed the Conservation and Reinvestment Act as a federal power grab and called AmeriCorps a "boondoggle." He is willing to risk angering Oklahoman voters as well. He argued against the 2002 farm bill, saying that its subsidies were too generous, especially to large farmers, and would encourage overproduction. He opposed legislation to give federal loan guarantees to some oil and gas explorations companies. In May 2002, he said it was "next to impossible" to save the Army's Crusader program, expected to be located at Oklahoma's Fort Sill, against a Bush veto threat. In June 2002, he said he would seek a one-week delay of a law making Oklahoma City bombing victims eligible for federal compensation when he learned of the involvement of a St. Louis law firm. "I don't want these families victimized twice--once by the bombing and again by any attorneys or lobbyists charging unreasonable fees of 25 or 30% of the payments we intend to go solely to the victims or their families."

After 14 years in leadership positions, Nickles became chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in January 2003. He was expected to take a different approach from Pete Domenici, lead Republican on this panel since the 1981. Often troubled by deficits, Domenici was hesitant to endorse tax cuts. Nickles believes that the best way to end deficits is to "grow the economy. You'll never balance the budget if revenues aren't growing from a growing economy." In January 2003, Nickles and House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle chose Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economic adviser to George W. Bush, to head the Congressional Budget Office. In the past, Nickles has criticized CBO for not adopting dynamic scoring (taking into account the effect of tax cuts in making economic projections); Holtz-Eakin supports dynamic scoring. In December 2002, Nickles said that the recent 7% growth in domestic discretionary spending "just isn't sustainable" and said that he wanted to find savings in every program, including Social Security and Medicare.

On several issues, Nickles has put together positions that have unified Senate Republicans. In 1998, Nickles came up with his own HMO bill with 49 co-sponsors, and Democrats did not bring up their bill after a version of it passed the House. When Democrats got 51 votes for the House bill in 2000, Nickles continued to resist action, and it did not come to the floor. Nickles has resisted increases in the minimum wage, even when leavened by tax relief for small business. "By raising the minimum wage, politicians would yank the ladder up too high for some people to get on in the first place." But in the debate following the 1997 tobacco settlement, Lott would not accept the tax increases proposed by Democrats and some Republicans, and opposed Arizona Senator John McCain's bill as ''one of the worst pieces of legislation I've ever seen.'' In summer 1998, he coordinated a three-week filibuster that killed the bill. On occasion, Nickles has taken bipartisan initiatives. With Nevada's Harry Reid, he won Senate passage of a bipartisan regulatory reform bill in March 1995--a more realistic and effective version of the moratorium on new regulations in the House's Contract With America. He and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu sponsored a 2000 law for automatic citizenship for foreign-born children adopted by Americans. Nickles was also the chief sponsor of the Republican $500-per-child tax credit included in the 1995 budget reconciliation bill, which was vetoed by President Clinton, but passed in 1998.

Nickles has worked to protect what he considers the interests of small business and what opponents say are K Street special interests. He played a key role in overturning the Clinton administration ergonomics regulations in March 2001 and has long worked for changes in product liability and tort law. He has long sought to bar union leaders from spending union members' dues money on politics without their permission, and when other Republicans tried to amend McCain's campaign finance bill in March 2001 to prohibit both that and executives spending corporate money on politics without shareholders' approval, he admitted that prohibiting the latter wasn't workable. With Democratic Senator John Breaux, he sponsored a bill deregulating the regional Bell companies to encourage them to provide broadband service and achieve "regulatory parity."

Nickles also can be a tenacious fighter. He has long sought to bar the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe from claiming ancestral land at Fort Reno that has been an USDA research station (this was the tribe that lobbied Bill Clinton in the White House after making a $100,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee). In September 2000, Nickles passed an amendment blocking the land transfer, against the strong opposition of Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye. Nickles has also worked hard to, in effect, repeal Oregon's 1994 assisted suicide law, by sponsoring what he calls the Pain Relief Promotion Act which would bar physicians from prescribing controlled substances for purposes of suicide. This passed the House in 1999, and Nickles worked to find a vehicle to bring it to the floor of the Senate. In the process, he tangled with Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, as he attempted to stop a vote and Nickles put holds on other Oregon legislation.

For 14 years, starting in December 1988 when he chaired the Senate Republicans' campaign committee, Nickles was part of the Republican leadership. As an opponent of the 1990 budget summit tax increase, he beat the more senior Pete Domenici for conference chairman in November 1990 by 23-20. After Bob Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996, Nickles considered running for majority leader, but decided not to challenge Trent Lott; instead he ran for whip, the position Lott had held, and won. During the six and one-half years they held these positions, there seemed to be tension between them. Lott, though very conservative on substance, is temperamentally a dealmaker; Nickles, though personable and pleasant, is inclined to stand solid on his convictions; neither tends to be very open about his strategy. In November 1998 he was urged to run against Lott, but declined to do so. Nickles's term as whip expired after the 2002 elections under Republican term limit rules, and in fall 2002 he considered running against Lott again; in April 2002 he had said he wouldn't make a "Shermanesque statement" about not running, and he raised large amounts for other Republicans--$615,000 for Bill Frist's Team Ball, $1.5 million for the June President's Dinner. But in October 2002 he told Lott he wouldn't run against him, and Republican senators reelected Lott in November. Then, on December 5, Lott made his unfortunate comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. The mainstream press didn't notice, but Lott got harsh criticism on both liberal and conservative weblogs. On December 15, on ABC's This Week, Nickles became the first Republican senator to say he should step aside.

"Trent has been weakened to the point that may jeopardize his ability to enact our agenda and speak to all Americans," he said. "There are several outstanding senators who are more capable of effective leadership and I hope we can have an opportunity to choose." He had notified White House strategist Karl Rove the night before and Lott on that morning that he would do this. It quickly became clear that Nickles could get the five signatures he needed to summon a Republican Conference meeting January 8 to reconsider Lott's status, and on December 20 Lott resigned the position. Nickles seems to have made no move to run for the post himself; presumably he recognized that many senators who backed Lott would resent him for undermining him. In any case, Republican senators quickly reached a consensus on supporting Bill Frist the same day Lott stepped down.

Nickles has been very popular in Oklahoma. His one tough re-election came in 1986, when he faced Tulsa Congressman Jim Jones. But Jones's ad campaign misfired and Nickles showed greater strength than many in Washington expected, winning 55%-45% in a year several other Southern Republicans elected in 1980 lost. In 1992 Nickles won easily, 59%-38%. In 1998 he had no big-name opponents and carried all but one county and won 66%-31%. Nickles has not made it clear whether he will run again in 2004. In May 2002 he said "I may not" run again. In March 2003 he told Roll Call he will like decide around April 2004, saying, "I have decided not to decide for a while." No one doubts he can win if he runs. If he doesn't, Republicans will be favored to keep the seat in this nationally Republican state. One possible candidate is former Congressman J. C. Watts, who did not run for reelection to the House in 2002; another is Congressman Ernest Istook. A Democrat who could make a serious race of it is 2d District Congressman Brad Carson.

Update: October 17, 2003
On October 7, 2003, Nickles announced he would not run for a fifth term in 2004.

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DC Office
133 HSOB 20510, 202-224-5754; Fax: 202-224-6008; Web site: www.senate.gov/~nickles

State Offices
Lawton, 580-357-9878; Oklahoma City,405-231-4941; Ponca City,580-767-1270; Tulsa,918-581-7651.

Committees

• Budget (Chmn.).
• Energy & Natural Resources: Energy (Vice Chmn.); National Parks (Vice Chmn.).
• Finance: Health Care; Social Security & Family Policy; Taxation & IRS Oversight (Chmn.).
• Rules & Administration.
• Joint Committee on Taxation (3d of 5 Sens.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	20	0	0	92	75	77	95	100	100	--
2001	10	--	0	0	--	--	87	100	92	--	100

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	17%	--	77%		0%	--	94%
Social	0%	--	79%		0%	--	62%
Foreign	7%	--	72%		0%	--	76%
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 Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution N  8. Overseas Military Abortions N  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
1998 general	Don Nickles (R)	570,682	66%	$2,415,565
	Don E. Carroll (D)	268,898	31%	$8,618
	Other	20,133	2%
1998 primary	Don Nickles (R)	unopposed
1992 general	Don Nickles (R)	757,876	59%	$3,492,603
	Steve Lewis (D)	494,350	38%	$1,455,848
	Other	42,197	3%
Prior winning percentages: 1986 (55%); 1980 (53%)