The Senate Game

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Name: David MacKenzie (R-VT, Class 1)
Age: 75
Ideology: Fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican
Previous Offices Held: Vermont House of Representatives (1977-1983), Vermont Senate (1983-1989), US House of Representatives (1991-1993), US Ambassador to South Africa (1993-1995)
Bio: Born February 9, 1942, in Brattleboro, Vermont, into a family of active, longtime Republicans.  His mother chaired the local GOP women's club, while his father served various positions within the local party organization.  A descendant of flinty, conservative Yankee stock, his ancestors include prominent Scottish-American minister and abolitionist Samuel Wesley MacKenzie.  During his freshman year of college in 1960, Dave worked on the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Richard Nixon, and four years later worked on Nelson Rockefeller's campaign for the GOP nomination.  In 1968, he again worked for Nixon, and in 1972 was vice chairman in the Vermont chapter of the Committee for the Reelection of the President.  As a college student, Dave participated actively in the civil rights movement, joining the Freedom Rides through the South in the summer of 1961 and the "Freedom Summer" voter registration drive in Mississippi in 1964.  After graduating from Harvard Law School, he entered private law practice and became one of New England's most prominent civil rights attorneys.  His wife Donna chaired the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Vermont, and has Dave has introduced legislation every year since taking office to ratify it, while also supporting legislation to establish paid family leave and equal pay for equal work.

MacKenzie is widely considered to be fiscally conservative and a deficit hawk, while moderate on social issues.  He is opposed to legalized abortion and wrote a frequently-cited article for a law journal criticizing the legal rationale and precedent of Roe v. Wade.  An avid hunter, he is also an outspoken advocate for gun rights under the Second Amendment, but has voted in favor of "common sense" legislation such as criminal background checks.  However, he supported the legalization of civil unions for gay and lesbian couples by the Vermont General Assembly in 2000, and opposes the passage of "bathroom bills" requiring transgenders to use the bathrooms of their assigned biological sex.  He has actively pushed for a constitutional amendment granting the president a line-item veto and legislation to lower the federal corporate tax rate.  A member of the conservative, pro-business wing of the Vermont GOP (as represented by Lee Emerson, Winston Prouty, and the Proctors), he ran for the US Senate in 1994 and defeated incumbent Senator Jim Jeffords in the Republican primary.  In a highly contested race that gained national attention, MacKenzie attacked Jeffords' liberal positions on taxes, abortion, healthcare, and gun control, while pledging to form broad, bipartisan coalitions in Washington.  In the general election, however, he touted his liberal credentials on civil rights and anti-tax platform to score a narrow victory over his Democratic opponent.  His conservative stances on abortion and guns have alienated many in an increasingly liberal Vermont as of late, and his reelection prospects have never been a sure thing.  Can he balance between his conservative and moderate credentials to keep his constituents happy?