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Claire McCaskill (born July 24 , 1953 ) is an American Democratic politician, currently the junior United States Senator from the state of Missouri and former State Auditor of Missouri . She defeated Republican Senator Jim Talent in 2006 by a margin of 50% to 47%. Along with Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, she is one of two female senators in the 110th United States Congress Freshman Class . She is the first woman elected to the Senate from Missouri in her own right. BIOGRAPHY McCaskill was born in Rolla, Missouri . McCaskill's father, William Y. McCaskill, served as a state Insurance Commissioner during the administration of Governor Warren E. Hearnes . Her mother Betty Anne was the first woman elected to the Columbia City Council. Interestingly, Betty Anne McCaskill lost a race for a seat in the state House of Representatives to Leroy Blunt, Governor Matt Blunt's grandfather. McCaskill spent her early childhood in the small Missouri towns of Houston , later moving to the town of Lebanon , and eventually Columbia . McCaskill attended David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, where she was a cheerleader, Pep Club president, and was elected homecoming queen. While attending the University Of Missouri-Columbia , McCaskill joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, graduating in 1975 with a B.S. in Political Science . She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Law School at the same institution in 1978 . Early career Except for three years spent in private practice as an attorney at the firm of a leading Kansas City trial lawyer ( 1989 to 1991 ), McCaskill has worked in the public sector continuously since graduating from law school in 1978. Claire, following her graduation from law school, spent one year as a law clerk on the Missouri Court Of Appeals for the Western District, which sits in Kansas City . Thereafter, McCaskill joined the Jackson County prosecutor's office where she specialized in Arson cases. In 1982 , McCaskill was elected to represent the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City in the Missouri House Of Representatives , where she became the first female attorney to serve in that body in some 40 years. During her time in the House, McCaskill became the first Missouri state lawmaker to give birth while in office. McCaskill left the state House to contemplate runnning for Jackson County Prosecutor in 1988 , but did not pursue the position when fellow Democrat and incumbent Prosecutor Albert Riederer decided to seek another term. In 1990 , McCaskill was elected to the Jackson County Legislature (the equivalent of a county commission or county council). In 1991, McCaskill made a bold announcement when she expressed her intention to run for County Prosecutor. The announcement was significant in that the elected Democratic Prosecutor Riederer had not announced that he wasn't going to seek re-election. This action by McCaskill was an early indication that she would challenge for any office, regardless if it was held by a member of her own party (see later challenge to sitting Democratic Governor Bob Holden). McCaskill then went on to an impressive victory in capturing the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office in 1992. McCaskill was the first woman to serve as Jackson County Prosecutor, and was re-elected to that office in 1996 . During her time in office she gave the Office a nationwide presence and reputation thru innovative and progressive programs and prosecutions. In 1998 McCaskill was elected to the position of State Auditor, and was the second woman State Auditor after her predecessor, Margaret B. Kelly . 2004 gubernatorial campaign On , November 8, 2006 2006 United States Senate race See Also: Missouri United States Senate election, 2006 McCaskill did not step down from her position as State Auditor during her 2004 campaign for governor. She therefore had the option of seeking re-election as State Auditor in 2006. Instead, on August 30 , 2005 McCaskill announced that she would challenge Republican Jim Talent , who was running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Both Talent and McCaskill easily defeated their opponents in their respective primaries on August 8 , 2006. McCaskill and Talent debated each other on '' Meet The Press '' on October 8 , 2006 http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/politics/15221409.htm. On November 8 , 2006 , McCaskill narrowly defeated Talent. While Talent received more votes in many of the more rural areas of the state, McCaskill ran stronger there than she had in the 2004 Governor's race. Also, she again had a large majority over Talent in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas. Senator On November 15 , 2006, Senate Majority Leader in waiting Harry Reid assigned McCaskill to five committees: # Senate Armed Services Committee , # Senate Commerce Committee , # Senate Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs Committee , # Senate Indian Affairs Committee , and the # Senate Aging Committee Personal life McCaskill was married to David Exposito, with whom she had three children — a son and two daughters. The couple divorced in .com, Jan 31, 2006 In April .com, October 27, 2004 In May 2007, an invitation for McCaskill to speak at the graduation of her daughter at St. Joseph's Academy in St Louis was withdrawn after two parents, complained to the St. Louis Archdiocese/Arch-Bishop Burke because of her positions on abortion and stem cell research1. U.S. SENATE McCaskill entered the U.S. Senate promising to raise the minimum wage and working with her counterpart from Missouri, Sen. Kit Bond , who was from the opposition party. McCaskill introduced legislation with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) after the Walter Reed scandal erupted, which demanded the full accountability of wounded veterans and agencies that would ensure physical and mental health conditions being addressed. "Those who have fought this war and felt its effects most personally, our servicemen and women, deserve to have a real researched plan for dealing with the aftermath of their sacrifice, so that the mistakes made by the administration in war planning are not repeated in planning for the readjustment needs of these heroes," McCaskill noted on the Senate floor after Sen. Obama made comments about the same issue. McCaskill also took Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson to task over the "irresponsibility" regarding overlooking the Department Of Veterans Affairs .http://mccaskill.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=273487& In the Senate Armed Services Committee , McCaskill has made herself known for being aggressive by questioning officials in the Department Of Defense and their "loose" spending habits. McCaskill grilled top officials of the military's auditing agencies for rewarding KBR, Inc. for their Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract, a contract now valued at over $20 billion, despite audit reports indicating extreme contractor mismanagement and expansive overcharging of the U.S. government. http://mccaskill.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=272963& McCaskill invoked the name of President Harry Truman , who was one of the predecessors to McCaskill's current seat, by indicating the Truman Committee. A August 2007 poll has McCaskill's approval rating at 53%, with 41% disapproving. {Link without Title} NOTES
ELECTORAL HISTORY
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