Rep. Tom Cole (R) Elected 2002, 2d term
Born:	April 28, 1949, Shreveport, LA
Home:	Moore
Education:	Grinnell Col., B.A. 1971, Yale U., M.A. 1974, U. of OK, Ph.D. 1984
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Ellen)
Elected  Office:	OK Senate, 1988-91.
Professional Career:	OK Repub. Party chmn, 1985-89; Exec. Dir. NRCC, 1991-95, OK Secy. of State, 1995-99; Pol. consultant, 2000-present.
DC Office	236 CHOB20515, 202-225-6165; Fax: 202-225-3512; Web site: www.house.gov/cole/
State Offices	Ada, 580-436-5375; Lawton, 580-357-2131; Norman, 405-329-6500.
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In the years just after 1900, the brown hills west of Oklahoma City and north of the Red River suddenly filled up with farmers riding north from Texas, past the well-watered green lands of the east toward the bare pasture lands of the west. These were young people with large families, and in the years since, this land has emptied out, as children have grown up and moved elsewhere and fewer hands are needed for farming. The first settlers here arrived just as the buffalo were dying out: from an estimated 60 million animals to no more than 1,000. So in 1901, President William McKinley established the nation's first wildlife preserve in the Wichita Mountains, 25 miles northwest of Lawton. Fifteen bison were donated by the New York Zoological Society and arrived at the preserve via rail in 1907--a major factor in the survival of the species. Government has played a role in the survival of people, too, in this part of Oklahoma. Population in southwest Oklahoma clusters around major government institutions: The state capital in Oklahoma City; the University of Oklahoma in Norman; the Army Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill, in Lawton; the giant repair depot at Tinker Air Force Base, in southern Oklahoma City.

The 4th Congressional District of Oklahoma begins a few miles from the oil-derrick-surrounded state Capitol in Oklahoma City, smack dab in the middle of the state, and proceeds south and west to cover half of Oklahoma's Red River Valley. Demographically, this district is becoming more suburban, but the cultural tone remains country. That is true even in the Oklahoma City suburbs, which stretch out over the mile-grid roads, where in new subdivisions dust may still get tracked indoors and people still prefer chicken-fried steak to stir-fried chicken (though they eat both). At the same time there is technical sophistication here, at OU and at Fort Sill. But there was dismay when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled the Crusader, a computerized cannon being developed at Fort Sill. Ancestrally, this is Democratic country, but Norman, Lawton and the Oklahoma City fringe have voted pretty solidly Republican over the past decade.

The congressman from the 4th District is Tom Cole, a Republican first elected in 2002. Cole grew up in Moore, just south of Oklahoma City and north of Norman. He is a fifth-generation Oklahoman, and his mother was a state representative and senator (and a member of the Chickasaw Nation hall of fame); his father served in the Air Force and later worked at Tinker. Cole graduated from Grinnell College, took a masters degree at Yale, and got a Ph.D. in British history at the University of Oklahoma, studying for a year at the University of London. From 1985 to 1989, he was the state Republican chairman in Oklahoma. In 1988, he was elected to the state Senate. He moved to Washington in 1991 as executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, then returned to Oklahoma and was appointed Secretary of State--the first Republican to hold that office. He went back to Washington to serve as chief of staff at the Republican National Committee in the 2000 campaign. During much of this period he was one of the partners in a polling and political consulting firm in Oklahoma City, whose clients have included three Republican presidents, Governor Frank Keating and J.C. Watts.

In July 2002 J. C. Watts, former college and professional football player, chairman of the House Republican Conference, 4th District Congressman since 1994, announced that he would not seek reelection. Cole moved quickly to run. Despite his party connections, he still faced formidable opposition. Watts endorsed Cole, but that failed to dissuade attorney Marc Nuttle from running. The two had much in common--their positions on most issues, their party connections. Nuttle had been Cole's predecessor at the NRCC, and then worked on Pat Robertson's 1988 campaign; Nuttle and Cole worked together to pass a right-to-work law in a September 2001 referendum. In the showdown between the strategists, Nuttle called himself a "grass-roots" activist and Cole a "party" activist who raised half his campaign funds from outside the state, much of it from other consultants. But Cole proved to be the stronger candidate. He won 60% of the vote in the August primary, in which two-thirds of the votes were cast in metro Oklahoma City (which includes Norman).

Cole also had tough competition in the general election, from former state senate Majority Leader Darryl Roberts, who defeated Watts's 1998 opponent 48%-34% in the Democratic primary. Amid talk of war in Iraq, Roberts argued that his service of more than 30 years in the Marine Corps, including a stint in Vietnam, taught him about duty and honor; he was appealing to the "yellow dog" Democratic tradition that is particularly strong in the Red River counties. Cole countered by citing the Democratic presidential nominees Roberts had supported, and described him as "pro-tax," "pro-abortion," and "pro-lawsuit." Roberts had only limited national party support; Cole had much more and won 54%-46%.

In the House, Speaker Dennis Hastert delivered on his promise to Cole of a seat on the Armed Services Committee, of obvious importance to the district. But Cole took a leave from the panel in early 2005 when he was appointed to the Rules Committee. In February 2005, Hastert appointed him to the Ethics committee. In February 2004, Democrats harshly criticized Cole's comment to a county convention that "if George Bush loses the election, Osama bin Laden wins the election;" Cole refused to apologize. The remark had no effect on his rapid ascent: Roy Blunt named Cole as one of his deputy whips and in May 2005 Cole said he would seek the NRCC chairmanship for the 2008 election cycle.

Committees

• Rules (7th of 9 R): Rules & Organization of the House.
• Standards of Official Conduct (5th of 5 R).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	0	0	0	0	78	68	100	96	83	100	--
2003	5	--	0	5	--	60	100	88	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	0%	--	91%		9%	--	88%
Social	17%	--	79%		30%	--	70%
Foreign	11%	--	80%		25%	--	68%
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. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 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 N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Tom Cole (R)	198,985	78%	$750,550
	Charlene Bradshaw (I)	56,869	22%
2004 primary	Tom Cole (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Tom Cole (R)	106,452	54%	$1,261,547
	Darryl Roberts (D)	91,322	46%	$563,729

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 194,977 (67%) Kerry (D) 96,100 (33%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 144,568 (61%) Gore (D) 91,078 (38%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fourth 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 +13
• District Size: 10,409 square miles
• Population in 2000: 690,131; 63.3% urban; 36.7% rural
• Median Household Income: $35,510; 13.1% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 26.4% blue collar; 57.2% white collar; 16.5% gray collar; 15.8% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 77.6% White, 6.6% Black, 1.7% Asian, 5.5% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 3.6% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 4.8% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 10.0% USA, 9.9% German, 8.6% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.