Conrad Burns

Conrad Ray Burns ( born January 25, 1935 in Gallatin, Daviess County, Missouri ) is an American politician ( Republican). From 1989 to 2007 he represented the state of Montana in the U.S. Senate.

After attending the public schools of his native city Gallatin Conrad Burns studied from 1953 to 1954 at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Between 1955 and 1957 he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Subsequently, he worked as an agricultural correspondent for a local television station in Montana; He also worked as an auctioneer at cattle auctions in Billings.

In 1986 Burns went into politics when he became a member of the governing body ( County Commission ) in Yellowstone County. Two years later, the Republicans presented to him as a rival candidate for the Democratic U.S. Senator John Melcher. Burns sat down, favored by the simultaneous success of George Bush in the presidential election, with 51:48 percent of the vote against Melcher through and solved this on January 3, 1989 at the Congress from. There he sat, among others in the Appropriations Committee. In this role, he managed to leave his home state to get large sums of money in subsidies.

After an unchallenged first re-election Burns had to fight a lot more in 2000. He met the politically inexperienced rancher Brian Schweitzer, who led a tactically clever campaign and ultimately narrowly lost with 47:51 percent of the vote. The same time held presidential election resulted in a disproportionately Montana clearer advantage for George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore. Schweitzer was four years later Governor of Montana.

After Burns ' approval ratings in the next six years were again dropped significantly, the Democrats have made great efforts to replace him in the Senate elections in 2006. This was Jon Tester, former President of the State Senate, ultimately just with 49:48 percent of the vote.

Burns was active after his retirement from the Senate as a lobbyist and lived in Arlington. In November 2009, he had to be admitted to a hospital after a stroke; after his recovery, he returned to Montana.