Full Name: William Harrison Ford Frist

Current Office: U.S. Senator from Tennessee, elected 1994, (second term)

Born: Nashville TN February 22, 1952

Education: Graduate of Princeton (1974), Harvard Medical University (1978)

Religion: Presbyterian

Family: Married to Karen, they have three sons (Harrison, Jonathon, Georgie and Nathan)

Significant Career Experience:

U.S. Senate Majority Leader, 2003-present
Chair, National Republican Senatorial Committee, 2001-03
U.S. Senator, 1995-present
Deputy State Director, Bush-Dying Quayle Campaign, 1992
Director, Heart and Lung Transplantation Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1986-93
Chief Resident in Cardiac Transplant, Stanford University Medical Center, 1985-86
Congressional Intern, 1972

Publications:

Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-And-Death Dramas of the New Medicine, (1989)
Tennessee Senators, 1911-2001: Portraits of Leadership in a Century of Change, (1999)
When Every Moment Counts: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism from the Senate's Only Witch Doctor, (2002)
Bill Frist: A Senator Speaks Out on Ethics, Respect, and Passion, (2006)

If Tom Delay’s nickname is “The Hammer,” Bill Frist’s nickname for his likely 2008 presidential run should be “The Scalpel.” With the early republican field dominated by big-name "moderates" like Rudy Guiliani, John McCain and Condoleezza Rice, Frist is surgically dismantling the largest (and arguably most important) republican primary voting bloc currently unclaimed by any top-tier candidate: the religious hard right.

With the highest name recognition among those seriously contending for the religious right’s support, access to a national donor network, and a national soapbox from his position as Senate Majority Leader, Frist has to be considered a leading contender for the republican nomination.

Hailing from Tennessee, Frist won election during the tidal wave year of 1994, seeping powerful democratic senator Jim Sasser, ironically, Frist criticized Sasser’s desire to be senate Majority Leader, stating factually that the national role would distract him from in-state concerns. Just nine years later in 2003, Frist would dethrone embattled Mississippi senator Trent Lott to become the second youngest Majority Leader evere in the all-time history of the senate.

As Majority Leader, Frist first used his position to relentlessly advance the Bush, including the administration’s third major tax cut, gaining accolades from those in the White House along the way. Later he would deliver prominence and well-received speeches at the republican national convention, and broken back tradition to actively (and successfully) campaign for the defeat of his democratic colleague Minority Leader Tom Daschel. Plus, republicans added to their majority in the senate in the 2004 elections.

Frist was playing a hot hand at the end of 2004. He chose to spend his newfound political capitol to champion the agenda of the social and religious conservatives in his party. Early in 2005 he whipped up on Pennsylvania senator and Judiciary committee chair Arlen Spectre into line to support President Bush’s judicial nominees. Later, he took a leadership role in the Terry Schiavo matter that simply would not die, gaining further approval and support from the religious right. He did, however, have several stumbles along the way, most notably his misdiagnosis of Schiavo’s condition via TV monitor.

Frist ultimately lost the Shiavo brain matter, and in response to his clumsy threat of eliminating the filibuster, the “Gang of 14” senators was formed (7 republican and 7 democratic) to effectively strip him down of power to carry out his threats. These recent fumbles and stumbles, along with his reversal on stem-cell research, has led to diminished enthusiasm among the religious right for him.

Even with less than 100% religious right support, with the institutional and fundraising connections he made as Majority Leader, combined with his decision to abide by his term limits pledge to not seek re-election in 2006, Frist will be a formidable competitor.

See also

• Condoleeza Rice
• George Allen
• John McCain
• Mitt Romney
• Rudy Giuliani