1992 Democratic Presidential Primary


                           Americans for Harkin
Flyer - 8 1/2" x 11".  (also see one-sided comparison flyer)
  
Tom Harkin, a fourth generation Iowan, was born November 19, 1939 in Warren County in Cumming, Iowa (population 151). Harkin's father was a coal miner, and his mother was a Yugoslavian immigrant.

As a boy, Harkin attended public schools in Cumming and Dexter and worked his way through school. Harkin graduated from Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines in 1958.

Harkin worked on construction sites and used an ROTC scholarship to put himself through college. He graduated from Iowa State University (Ames) in 1962 with a B.S. in Government and Economics.

Harkin then enlisted as a Navy Jet Pilot and served from 1962 to 1967. He was one of the first Vietnam-era veterans elected to Congress. Counting his time in the Ready Reserve, Harkin is proud have served his country for eight years, eight months and eight days. Harkin was transferred to the Retired Reserves in 1989 and remains an active pilot as a member of the Civil Air Patrol. He is a member of the American Legion Post 562 in Cumming.

From 1969 to 1970, Harkin served as an aide to Congressman Neal Smith (D-lowa). In 1970, he was appointed as staff assistant to the U.S. House Select Committee on U.S. Involvement in Southeast Asia.

In 1972 Harkin Graduated from The Catholic University of America Law School in Washington, D.C. and was admitted to the Iowa Bar. Harkin served as an attorney with the Polk County Legal Aid Society in Des Moines from 1973 to 1974.

Harkin was elected to Congress from Iowa's Fifth Congressional District in November, 1974. He was the first elected official to campaign through a series of 'Work Days,' in which he spends a day side-by-side on the job with Iowans. Harkin has worked more than 100 work days. In the House of Representatives, Harkin took leadership roles through his membership on the Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Science and Technology. He also became a leading advocate for human rights worldwide.

Against great odds, Harkin defeated Republican incumbent Roger Jepsen to win his first term in the U.S. Senate in November, 1984. In 1990, Tom Harkin defeated 2nd District Republican Congressman Tom Tauke by a margin of 54 to 46 percent.

Since 1989, Harkin has served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Human Resources Subcommittee on Disability Policy and, in that role, was principal sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the landmark legislation that guarantees people with disabilities freedom from discrimination. Harkin says the day the bill was signed by the President was the proudest moment of his years in Congress.

Harkin is married to Ruth Raduenz Harkin, an attorney who served two terms as Story County Attorney and was the first woman in Iowa elected to such a post. The Harkins have two daughters: Amy, born in July, 1976, and Jenny, born in December 1981.
 
Tom Harkin...A Clear Choice
 

Tom Harkin...A Clear Choice
 
Tom Harkin...
George Bush...
Opposed to supply-side, trickle down economics and supports replacing it with Resource Based Economics to create jobs in America and make American business more competitive. Favors investing in American infrastructure and in  America's people through job retraining, parental leave, child care, education and health care.

ECONOMY
 Vetoed extending Unemployment Benefits for American workers. Promotes trade policies that export American jobs. Opposes parental leave and child care legislation. George Herbert Walker Bush's economic recovery plan is to cut capital gains taxes for the rich.
Favors maximizing the peace dividend by cutting needless weapons like the B2 Bomber and Star Wars. Supports taking the billions we now spend to defend Europe from Communism and using the money to strengthen America's economy, education, and health systems.
 
 MILITARY SPENDING
 Advocates spending $160 billion a year on Cold War weapons to defend Europe from a nonexistent Soviet threat. Supports continued spending for Cold War weapons like the B2 Bomber and Star Wars.
Supports reform of America's health care system so that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care without going broke. Supports investing in preventive health care programs that save money in the future.

HEALTH CARE
 Has no plan for dealing with current health crisis in which 37 million Americans have no health insurance and 65 million more are just a paycheck away from losing their coverage.
Favors investing in America's youth and strengthening America's educational system.. Supports increased spending for Head Start and vocational education and additional loan funds for college students.

EDUCATION
 Has cut funding for all levels of education and opposes transferring funds from defense spending to education funding. Claims to be "the Education President" , yet under his leadership test scores continue to decline.
Opposes weakening pollution controls and selling off wetlands and wilderness areas to big corporate interests. Wants to preserve and protect the environment through strong clean air and water legislation.

ENVIRONMENT
 Favors opening wilderness areas to big corporate interests. Has gutted strong wetlands legislation through the regulatory process. Opposes strong pollution control provisions.
Wants to guarantee equal opportunity for all regardless of race, creed, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the most important Civil Rights legislation since 1964.

 CIVIL RIGHTS
 Vetoed strong civil rights legislation. Uses racially divisive " code words" to divide America. Has appointed judges hostile to civil rights and civil liberties. Has allowed the party of Abraham Lincoln to become the party of David Duke.
 
Strongly supports the "gag rule." Will protect Americans' constitutional right to privacy. Supports alternatives to abortion, but trusts American women to make this most personal of all decisions.

CHOICE
 Has stacked the courts with anti-choice judges. Supports the " gag rule" which prevents doctors from providing women basic information about health care choices. Opposes granting women the right to choice.
 
Supports restoring moral leadership to American foreign policy by emphasizing human rights. Supports using the UN to end regional conflicts. Favors a tough trade policy to open foreign markets to American products and keep jobs here at home.
FOREIGN POLICY
 Sells arms to dictators like Saddam Hussein, then sends American troops to impose a " New World Order." Supports Chinese government's brutal suppression of Democracy Movement. Favors a trade policy that results in the exporting of jobs rather than agricultural, manufacturing, and technological goods.

NH for Harkin
45 So. Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 228-9000

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