Path to Power
Born March 12, 1948, in Bismarck, N.D., Conrad and his brothers were raised by grandparents and an uncle and aunt after their parents were killed in an automobile accident when Conrad was five years old.
Conrad’s family enjoyed a wealth of political connections in North Dakota; one grandfather owned a politically involved newspaper in Bismarck, the other was the doctor for former Gov. and Sen. William Langer.
Conrad graduated from the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1966. His political education started at age 19, when he led an effort in his home state to grant voting rights to people his age.
Conrad attended the University of Missouri and Stanford University, where he graduated in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in government. He earned his master’s in business administration from The George Washington University in 1975.
With that degree in hand, Conrad became a civil servant, working in North Dakota’s tax commission office under commissioner and future Senate colleague Byron L. Dorgan. The pair would become close professional and personal friends.
In 1974, Dorgan ran for Congress and lost. In 1976, Conrad unsuccessfully ran to become North Dakota’s auditor. Four years later, Dorgan ran again for a House seat and won. Conrad succeeded his former boss as tax commissioner in 1981. As North Dakota’s tax commissioner, Conrad’s primary duties during his six-year term were to investigate tax fraud by poring over financial records and referring cases to prosecutors.
U.S. Senate
In 1986, Conrad ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Mark Andrews, who had been in Congress since 1963. It was a tough race. Andrews was a North Dakota farmer who had a moderate voting record. Conrad won by just 2,100 votes, in what many political observers considered an upset. Andrews became the last Republican to serve in Congress from North Dakota.
Conrad’s primary campaign pledge was a doozy: he said he would not seek re-election if the federal budget deficit did not decline during his term. That pledge came back to haunt him. With the federal budget deficit rising, Conrad said he would keep his promise to step down when his term expired in 1992. Then fate intervened.
In September 1992, North Dakota Sen. Quentin N. Burdick (D) died at age 84. His widow, Jocelyn Birch Burdick, was appointed to fill his term until a special election could be held in November. Conrad, with the support of his state Democratic colleagues and a substantial war chest, ran for Burdick’s seat and won, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple. His old friend, Dorgan, filled Conrad’s post. For a few hours, Conrad became the only senator ever to hold two seats at the same time.
Conrad easily won re-election in 1994, defeating Ben Clayburgh, the former head of North Dakota’s medical association.
Senate Budget Committee
In recent years, Conrad’s political career has been defined by his opposition to the economic policies of President George W. Bush. In 2001, as Bush took office, Conrad became chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and presented proposals that would pay off more of the national debt than Bush’s concepts. But Conrad’s proposal never came up for a vote.
He became ranking Budget panel member after Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2004 and chairman again after his party won the majority in 2006.
Conrad has also been a prominent face on agricultural issues, winning $73 billion for farm programs in the 2002 farm bill.
In June 2008, as talk heated up that Conrad could be selected as Barack Obama’s running mate, a Conde Nast Portfolio.com report showed Conrad received a favorable deal on a home loan from Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo.
Conrad, a Unitarian, is married to Lucy Calautti, a Navy veteran, former aide to Dorgan and a lobbyist for Major League Baseball. He has one daughter from a previous marriage to Pam Schafer, a sister of former North Dakota Gov. and Agriculture Department Secretary Ed Schafer.
