Representative-Elect
Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.)

Born: Aug. 6, 1956, Lumberton, N.C. Education: U. of North Carolina, B.A. 1978, J.D. 1981. Occupation: Lawyer. Family: Wife, Dee; two children. Religion: Presbyterian. Political Career: No previous office. Capitol Office: 1605 Longworth Bldg. 20515; 225-2731.

By Congressional Quarterly

A lawyer who had never held elected office, McIntyre won the 7th District in 1996 after many years of community activism and behind- the-scenes involvement in local politics.

In 1987, for example, McIntyre was appointed to a statewide commission on children and youth that submitted recommendations to the state legislature. In 1989, he was appointed to another two- year stint on a similar panel, this one devoted to studying family issues.

McIntyre, a self-described moderate, also chaired the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce's legislative committee and served on the chamber's board of directors and its executive committee.

Also active in North Carolina's legal community, McIntyre served in various leadership positions with the state bar association, primarily working on youth and education issues.

The road to Congress was not an easy one for McIntyre, who finished second in a crowded Democratic primary but forced a runoff with the top vote-getter, a well-known American Indian woman who had been expected by many to walk away with the nomination.

With less than a month to campaign for the runoff election, McIntyre criss-crossed the district, stressing his years of community activism in an effort to convince the local party faithful that he would be the Democrats' best choice to defend the open seat.

In the days just prior to the runoff, McIntyre was able to win the backing of several influential leaders in the district's black community, whose support was enough to tip the race in his favor. McIntyre won the nomination with 52 percent.

In the general election, McIntyre faced Republican Bill Caster, a New Hanover County (Wilmington) commissioner and retired Coast Guard officer, who had scored a primary upset himself by knocking off three-time GOP nominee Robert C. Anderson to claim the Republican nomination.

Caster, who was promised a subcommittee chairmanship by House Speaker Newt Gingrich if he picked up the seat for Republicans, made drug enforcement and interdiction one of his major campaign themes.

Caster also attempted to label McIntyre a stereotypical tax-and- spend Democrat.

But McIntyre's message of protecting education, balancing the budget and creating jobs had broader appeal with voters. He beat Caster by a relatively comfortable margin.

For successfully defending the seat left open by the retirement of veteran Democratic Rep. Charlie Rose, McIntyre was awarded a slot on the Agriculture Committee.

From his position on Agriculture, McIntyre hoped to protect his district's tobacco farmers, many of whom felt threatened by Clinton administration suggestions that nicotine should be regulated as a drug.

While he supported proposals to crack down on underage smoking, McIntyre contended that the district's heavy reliance on agriculture, especially tobacco, would force him to strenuously oppose any proposals aimed at regulating it.

Another issue McIntyre is likely to push in Congress is economic development. McIntyre said he would place a high priority on economic issues and as a result, hoped to pursue policies that would encourage business and job creation in the district.

While he has said he is in favor of fiscal restraint and balancing the budget, McIntyre has sworn to protect constituents from cuts to programs such as college student loans and the federally backed health insurance programs for the elderly, poor and disabled. He contends that public officials need to do a better job of prioritizing when it comes to government programs.

With a large military presence in the 7th District, including Fort Bragg and a significant population of retired military personnel, McIntyre said he would also pay special attention to veterans' issues and national defense policy.

© 1997, Congressional Quarterly Inc. All rights reserved.

Senator-Elect
Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)

Born: Oct. 4, 1946, North Platte, Neb. Education: U. of Nebraska, Omaha, B.A. 1971. Military Service: Army, 1967-68. Occupation: Investment bank executive; nonprofit business organization executive; military personnel assistance organization executive; telecommunications company executive; international business consultant; cabinet agency deputy administrator; World's Fair organizer; presidential campaign organizer; tire company governmental affairs executive; congressional aide; radio newscaster. Family: Wife, Lilibet Ziller; two children. Religion: Episcopalian. Political Career: No previous office.

By Congressional Quarterly

Like a champion thoroughbred racing down the stretch, Hagel came from behind twice in 1996, first to upset Republican Attorney General Don Stenberg in the primary and then to wrest the Senate seat from Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson, who had led in the polls since the opening gun.

Nelson had been one of the top recruiting successes of fellow Nebraskan Bob Kerrey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The popular governor -- re-elected with 74 percent of the vote in 1994 despite the national Republican trend - - agreed to run for the seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Jim Exon.

Stenberg was the front-runner for the GOP nomination against Hagel, who was not well-known in the state. But Hagel dipped lavishly into his personal bank account for television commercials that introduced him to the voters and helped him win the right to take on Nelson.

In the fall campaign, Hagel again eagerly spent his own money and closed a double-digit polling gap in the closing weeks.

With a fervor worthy of Jack F. Kemp, the 1996 GOP vice presidential nominee, Hagel made the centerpiece of his campaign the argument that federal tax cuts would stimulate economic growth. And this growth, he contended, would accomplish the many good things that direct government action was inherently incapable of achieving.

Besides endorsing Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole's proposed 15 percent tax cut, Hagel proposed a package of additional cuts including a phase-out of the capital gains tax, a $500-per- child tax credit and the elimination of estate and gift taxes.

To pay for those revenue cuts, Hagel called for eliminating the departments of Energy, Education, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development. He also called for a 25 percent cut in the budget of every regulatory agency.

Hagel endorsed a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and one requiring a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress to raise taxes. He supported efforts to send welfare and Medicaid to the states.

On crime, he ticked off the litany of conservative solutions: death penalty, the end of parole for violent criminals, and three- strikes-and-you're-out legislation, which would mandate life in prison for anyone convicted of a third violent felony.

Hagel and his fellow Republicans assailed Nelson for breaking his pledge to serve out his full four-year term as governor. Nelson contended that the voters would decide whether to hold him to that pledge or whether he would better serve them in the Senate.

Nelson, meanwhile, echoed the arguments against Hagel first laid out by Stenberg. He said Hagel had left the state and became a Washington insider, even toying with the idea of running for public office in his adopted state of Virginia, only to return to Nebraska to run for the Senate. Nelson referred to himself as a lifelong Nebraskan.

The governor also challenged Hagel's tax-cutting proposals, arguing that they would widen the deficit. Nelson pointed to his own record of proposing six balanced state budgets in a row. He also defended the Education Department against Hagel's plan to eliminate it.

Nelson unveiled his own plan to balance the federal budget, offering more modest tax cuts than Hagel proposed, and he called for raising $46 billion through eliminating certain tax breaks for select businesses that are derided by critics as "corporate welfare."

He was put on the defensive over abortion. While both candidates oppose abortion, Lt. Gov. Kim Robak supports abortion rights and would have been elevated to the governorship had Nelson won the Senate seat.

Now Hagel returns to Washington, where he spent nearly two decades as a Republican political operative and a highly successful entrepreneur.

Before that first Washington stint, he spent a year as an infantryman in Vietnam (1967-68), where he was gravely wounded twice, each time receiving the Purple Heart. He returned to Nebraska, worked as a bartender and radio newscaster and finished college.

His Washington years began in mid-1971, with six years on the staff of Rep. John Y. McCollister, R-Neb. (1971-77), followed by four years as a corporate lobbyist, the last year of which he spent working on Ronald Reagan'S1980 presidential campaign.

Hagel became deputy administrator of the Veterans' Administration -- the highest-ranking Reagan administration job to go to a Vietnam vet. And he was a leading backer of the then- controversial Vietnam memorial in Washington.

In 1982, he resigned from the government because of disagreements with VA Administrator Robert P. Nimmo, a friend of Reagan's who was intent on cutting programs and who complained that veterans groups were too greedy.

Within months, Hagel entered the nascent cellular telephone business which, by early 1987, made him a wealthy man.

He spent two years at the helm of the United Service Organizations, a nonprofit organization providing assistance to military personnel, then ran a consortium of companies set up to adapt business methods to government problem-solving. In 1990, he was chief operating officer of the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations.

After the summit, Hagel became president and chief executive officer of the Private Sector Council, a Washington group that tries to apply business solutions to government problems.

He left the council and returned to Nebraska in 1992 to become president of an investment banking firm.

© 1997, Congressional Quarterly Inc. All rights reserved.