Sam+Brownback

toc =Brief bio:= Where was the candidate born, raised, go to school, what degrees were earn in college, what was the progression of jobs in his career. Basically, how did he get to where he is now?

//**Brownback dropped out of the 2008 presidential race on Thursday, October 19th, 2007**//

Samuel Dale Brownback was born in a small town near Garnett, Kansas on September 12, 1956. He grew up on his family's farm near Parker, Kansas, and graduated from Prairie View High School, Linn County, Kansas. He later graduated from Kansas State University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Agricultural Economics. While at Kansas State, he was elected student body president and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho.

He received his law degree from the University of Kansas in 1982. Over the years, he has been a radio broadcaster, attorney, teacher, administrator, congressman and senator. Brownback was an attorney in Manhattan, Kansas before becoming the Kansas secretary of agriculture in 1986. In 1990, he was accepted into the White House Fellow program from 1990 to 1991. Brownback then returned to Kansas to resume his position as secretary of agriculture and remained in that position until 1993. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994, and next ran in the 1996 special Senatorial election to replace Bob Dole, who had resigned his Senate seat during his presidential campaign. Brownback then defeated U. S. Senator Sheila Frahm when Dole resigned in the middle of his term to campaign for president.

He is a Roman Catholic. His wife's name is Mary and he has 5 children. From Left: Mark, Andy, Abby, Jenna, Sam Brownback, Mary Brownback, Elizabeth

=Stance on each of the campaign issues:=
 * ===War on Terror/Homeland Security===
 * Brownback has generally backed the Bush administration’s homeland security policies.


 * ===War in Iraq/Afghanistan===
 * Brownback has stated that he opposed Bush's 2007 troop surge in Iraq. He voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq, voted NO on requiring on-budget funding for Iraq, not emergency funding and voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007.


 * ===Education===
 * He does not believe in evolution and supports idea of teaching intelligence project theory. He was given a 27% rating by the NEA, supporters of teacher's unions.


 * ===Economy===
 * Voted YES on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts, Voted YES on 1998 GOP budget, Voted YES on Balanced-budget constitutional amendment


 * ===Taxes===
 * Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends, Voted YES on extending the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends, Voted YES on $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years, Voted NO on increasing tax deductions for college tuition, Voted YES on requiring super-majority for raising taxes.


 * ===Environment===
 * He voted "yes" on reducing funds for road-building in national forests and was rated 0% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes according to that organization. He voted NO on including oil and gas smokestacks in mercury regulations


 * ===Foreign Policy/Foreign Relations===
 * Stand up in the face of genocide in Darfur, Passed the Sudan Peace Act to end civil war and slavery, Talk directly to Iran; but confront them also, Voted YES on cap foreign aid at only $12.7 billion, Voted NO on limiting NATO expansion to only Poland, Hungary & Czech, Voted YES on $17.9 billion to IMF, Monitor human rights in Uganada-Sudan crisis.


 * ===Immigration===
 * Brownback supports increasing legal immigrants & build a fence on Mexican border and the reform bill "if enforced" He voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship. Brownback has a voting record tending toward higher immigration levels. The senator switched his vote on cloture voting "Nay" on June 28, 2007, after previously voting for cloture. Brownback has said that he supports immigration reform because the Bible says to welcome the stranger.


 * ===Health Care===
 * Voted NO on allowing reimportation of Rx drugs from Canada, Voted NO on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages, Voted YES on funding GOP version of Medicare prescription drug benefit, Voted NO on including prescription drugs under Medicare, Voted YES on limiting self-employment health deduction, Voted NO on increasing tobacco restrictions, Voted YES on Medicare means-testing.


 * ===Long Term Care===
 * "The problem with the current health care system is that it's not generally seen as using our own money, and we have no price transparency. We don't know what we're paying for. Frequently a third party pays the bill. The patient needs more information, and we need more price transparency. I've cosponsored a bill requiring the disclosure of the amount Medicare reimburses on typical procedures [made] available over the Internet." This is what Brownback said about Medicare.

links: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sam_Brownback http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000953 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brownback http://brownback.senate.gov/english/aboutsam/biography.htm http://www.issues2000.org/Sam_Brownback.htm#Abortion http://www.issues2000.org/Issues.htm