Rep. Bud Cramer (D) Elected 1990, 8th term
Born:	Aug. 22, 1947, Huntsville
Home:	Huntsville
Education:	U. of AL, B.A. 1969, J.D. 1972
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	widowed
Military Career:	Army, 1972; Army Reserves, 1976-78.
Professional Career:	Instructor, U. of AL Law Schl., Dir., Clinical Studies Program, 1972-73; Madison Cnty. Asst. Dist. Atty., 1973-75; Practicing atty., 1975-80; Madison Cnty. Dist. Atty., 1981-90; Founder, Natl. Children's Advocacy Ctr., 1985.
DC Office	2368 RHOB20515, 202-225-4801; Fax: 202-225-4392; Web site: www.cramer.house.gov
State Offices	Decatur, 256-355-9400; Huntsville, 256-551-0190; Tuscumbia, 256-381-3450.
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Twice this century, the federal government has transformed the northern Alabama counties along the Tennessee River. The first time was when it created the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Proposed by Nebraska Senator George Norris, a favorite of President Franklin Roosevelt, TVA took the World War I federal munitions plant at Muscle Shoals on the unnavigable Tennessee River, and built a series of dams to control flooding and produce cheap hydroelectric power. This was backward country then: Poor white farmers scratched an existence out of hardscrabble land, were housed in shacks without electricity or running water, and lived off a diet that produced pellagra and rickets. The TVA was intended to showcase what an enlightened, generous federal government could do. The second major federal project here was the space program. After the Soviets put up Sputnik in 1957, the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville became the nation's major missile development center--the first of the large U.S. ballistic missiles were developed here. On the grounds of Redstone, NASA built its Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s and the Huntsville-Decatur area soon achieved high-tech critical mass. With leadership from Werner von Braun and other German engineers, Redstone and Marshall built Explorer 1, the first American orbiting satellite, the Mercury-Redstone vehicle that boosted astronaut Alan Shepard into suborbital flight and the Saturn V rocket that sent man to the moon. In the 1970s, Marshall produced Skylab and developed the Space Shuttle's main engines and solid rocket boosters. In 1990, it helped launch the Hubble Space Telescope. The Boeing research center here has been a prime contractor for the space station. Boeing also produces its Delta IV booster out of its local factory in Decatur. Fifty years ago Huntsville was a sleepy town huddled around a well-preserved early 19th century residential district. Today it is the center of Alabama's third-largest and fast-growing metro area.

The 5th Congressional District of Alabama takes in most of the state's TVA and space counties. TVA and the space program were primarily Democratic projects, and for years most voters here were staunch New Deal Democrats, liberal on economics and not much interested in race, like the longtime Senator John Sparkman, the party's vice presidential nominee in 1952. But professional and technical people in the space business tend to combine high-tech and traditional values, and this made much of northern Alabama marginal-to-Republican country in the 1990s. This district has never elected a Republican to Congress, but it has voted Republican for president since the defeat of Jimmy Carter, and in the mid-1990s, it had seriously contested congressional elections.

The congressman from the 5th District is Bud Cramer, a Democrat first elected in 1990. He grew up in Huntsville, served as an Army tank officer after law school, and beat the incumbent district attorney in 1980, at 33. In 1985, he set up the Child Advocacy Center, a child-friendly environment for abused children. When Congressman Ronnie Flippo ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990, Cramer ran for Congress. He won the general election by a 2-1 margin.

In the House, Cramer has been a tireless booster of the beleaguered Space Station and a leading advocate of a spending boost for missile defense. In the TVA tradition, he supported the Democratic leadership on key issues. But his votes for the Clinton budget and tax package in 1993 and for the Clinton crime bill with its gun control provisions were unpopular locally and in 1994, against Texas Republican Bill Archer's son-in-law, he was reelected by only a 50%-49% margin. Since then, Cramer has avoided liberal votes on most visible issues. With his seat on Appropriations, he has successfully pursued a nonpartisan approach of federal dollars and contracts. The September 11 attacks provided an additional financial boost: Cramer got $23 million for bomb squad training at the Redstone Arsenal. He also was an early supporter of the proposal to create a national intelligence director to oversee the complex intelligence bureaucracy. Child abuse is another issue that has long been of concern to Cramer: As a district attorney, he set up the National Child Advocacy Center, a child-friendly environment for abused children that has trained thousands of caregivers and case workers since opening in 1985. "We are the Mayo Clinic there in Huntsville of child abuse," he boasted. In Congress, Cramer set up a $5 million federal program to encourage similar centers across the country. But the pork-busting Citizens Against Government Waste has listed many of Cramer's local projects in its "Pork Alert" listing, with a salute, "This Bud's for you!"

Cramer's overall voting record remains in the middle of the House. But he has voted conservative on key issues, ranging from the Republicans' impeachment inquiry of Bill Clinton to the ban on partial-birth abortions and needle exchanges.

After the 2000 election, Cramer was said to be under consideration for a job in the Bush administration and later was touted as a possible challenger to Jeff Sessions in the 2002 Senate campaign. But he was not appointed by Bush and in May 2001 he said he wouldn't run for the Senate. Before and after the 2002 election, Cramer was strikingly coy about persistent rumors that he might switch parties. "I don't plan on switching parties right now," or, "at this time," he would say. Amid this speculation, Democratic leadership gave him a seat on the Intelligence Committee. Since then, he has been sounding more like a loyal Democrat. When asked in mid-2004 about switching parties, he told the Huntsville Times, "I am right where I need to be." After winning 56%-42% in 1996, he has been reelected by much wider margins. He won 73%-27% in 2004, even as George W. Bush was carrying every county in the 5th District.

Committees

• Appropriations (17th of 29 D): Military Quality of Life & Veterans Affairs & Related Agencies; Science, State, Justice, Commerce & Related Agencies.
• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (5th of 9 D): Oversight (RMM); Technical & Tactical Intelligence.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	75	25	63	36	89	26	86	50	18	58	--
2003	45	--	75	35	--	28	89	56	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	51%	--	49%		50%	--	49%
Social	53%	--	46%		48%	--	51%
Foreign	53%	--	47%		54%	--	45%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Bud Cramer (D)	200,999	73%	$588,838
	Gerald Wallace (R)	74,145	27%	$12,610
	Other	315	0%
2004 primary	Bud Cramer (D)	37,573	90%
	Michael Williams (D)	4,393	10%
2002 general	Bud Cramer (D)	143,029	73%	$770,032
	Stephen Engel (R)	48,226	25%	$13,593
	Other	3,916	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (89%); 1998 (70%); 1996 (56%); 1994 (50%); 1992 (66%); 1990 (67%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 167,552 (60%) Kerry (D) 110,633 (39%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 131,608 (54%) Gore (D) 106,685 (44%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fifth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 6
• District Size: 4,689 square miles
• Population in 2000: 635,300; 59.4% urban; 40.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $38,054; 12.5% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 29.6% blue collar; 57.1% white collar; 13.3% gray collar; 14.0% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 77.7% White, 16.9% Black, 1.0% Asian, 0.9% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.4% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 2.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 16.1% USA, 8.0% Irish, 7.6% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.