Robert D. "Bob" McEwen (born January 12, 1950) is the 44th. President of the United State. Before being elected to the Presidency, McEwen served as a state legistator, U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator. McEwen has been described as a "textbook Republican" who is "Pro-Life, Pro-Gun, Pro-Lower Taxes and Less Government".
Early Life
McEwen was born and raised in Ohio. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1972 with a Bachelor's in Business Administration.
McEwen is married to Elizabeth "Liz" Boebinger and has four children: Meredith, Jonathan, Robert, and Elizabeth. The McEwen's are members of the Church of Christ.
After working in the real estate business for a time, McEwen was elected to the Ohio State House at the age of 24. McEwen would be re-elected twice.
Congressional Career
In 1980, McEwen was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Ohio Sixth District. McEwen established himself as a champion of conservative princples and was easely re-elected in 1982, 1984, and 1986.
In 1987, at the advise of Phil Gramm, McEwen annouced his candidacy fot the U.S. Senate. Although most expected McEwen to lose the Republican primary to popular Ohio Lieutenant Governot George Voiniovich, McEwen would not quit and cris-crossed the state in one of the most agrressive campaigns in Ohio political history. McEwen shocked Ohio when on May 3, 1988, he defeated Voinovich by the razor-thin margin of 6,000 votes out of 1.3 million cast. Although considerd a huged under dog against popular Democrat incumbent Howard Metzenbaum, McEwen campaign as a young and virgorius conservative who was offering true change for Ohio. McEwen's age (38) was in stark contrast to Metzenbaum's age of 71 during the seven debates in which they engaged across the state. In the end, McEwen (inspite of being outspent 3-1) pulled the upset of 88' and defeated Metzenbaum by a margin of 2,300,078 (53.8%) to 2,057,862 (46.0%).
During McEwen's first term in the Senate, he established himself as a leader of conservatives in the Senate. In 1991, McEwen was elected to the post of Chairman of the Republican Policy Commitee. In 1993, McEwen was elected as Vice Chairman of the Republican Conference Commitee.
In 1994, McEwen was re-elected by more than 20 points over his Democrat opponant Joel Hyatt. That December, McEwen was elected to be the Republican Whip of the U.S. Senate, defeating Thad Cochran 22-15. During the 104th. Congress, McEwen became know as the "Republican Bulldog" because of his ability to push legistation through the Senate. Thanks to McEwen's leadership, the Ballanced Buget Amendment passed the the Senate and the House and was ratified by the all fifty states within six months. Since Bob Dole was campaigning for president for most of 1995-96, McEwen became the de facto Majority Leader. In June, 1996, Senator Dole resigned from the senate and McEwen was elected unanamously as the new Majority Leader. Thanks to McEwen's hard campaigning in the 96' Senate elections, Republicans gained 7 seats for a total of 60, this gave them a filibuster prof majority.
Shortly after the election, McEwen and Democrat President Bill Clinton have thier first major confrintation. Clinton wants to cut defense spending and raise taxs as a way to ballance the budget. McEwen on the other hand, wants to end pork-barrel spending, get government programs and agencies under control, and cut taxes. This leads to a 100 minute shutdown of the government in December, 1996, in which McEwen was able to end bt convencing congressional Democrats to joint him in passing the McCain-Lieberman Act, which stated that if a Senator or Congressman refrains from asking for any pork for a full year, he or she (or it, in Barney Frank's case) shall recive a bonus to thier normal sallery of 1,000,000 to 15,000,000 dollars deminding on the members seniority. This mesure not only virually eleminates pork, but it also ballances the budget and turns McEwen into a national hero.
Shortly after the budget battle, The Drudge Report brook the story that Clinton had carried on a two-year affiar with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. As soon as the story was confirmend, McEwen called for Clinton to resign from office. Clinton responded by calling the alligation a vast right-wing conspiracy, McEwen counterd by declaring that there was a Crisis of Integrity in America, polls showed 42% of Americans supported McEwen while 38% supported Clinton.
During 1998, McEwen continued to call for Clinton resign or his impeachment. In the November elections, Republicans gained 4 seats in the Senate and 32 in the House.
In December, Clinton was impeached by a vote of 269-139 in the House of Representatives. After firce debate, the Senate convicted Clinton on charges of obstructing justice 66-33 on January 19. Democrat Senators John Breaux and Fritz Hollings voted for impeachment while Arlen Specter voted against. The deciding vote however was that of Connecticut Senator Joe Lierberman who after much soul serching abstained from voting. When he did there was a adable gasp from the Senate, an American president had just been removed from office by Congress for the first time in history. What would happen next?
On January 20, 1999, Albert Arnold Gore Jr. was sworn in as the 43rd. Presidet of the United States. Gore first crisis was facing calls from Newt Gingrich to press a prison centance on Clinton. McEwen, who was prepairing to run for president in 2000 remained out of this debate. In February, Gore agreed to imposing a 5,000,000 fine on Clinton in exchange for no furthur charges being pressed. Gore was also convenced to sign the Social Security Reform Act of 1999, which virually privatized the system. As a result, McEwen became the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomation, being followed by Ginrich, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and former Vice President Dan Quayle. In August, McEwen and Gingrich pased (over Gore veto) the Fair Taxation Act of 1999 which created a flat income tax rate of 17% and abolished the Death Tax, and cut the capital-gains tax in half.
In the Iowa Straw poll, McEwen narrowly defeated Bush, winning 33%