Boston Globe Profiles Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Potential Candidate for Vice President in 2004
The cover story in Sunday's Boston Globe magazine examines the life and career of Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a physician who some have called a possible candidate for vice president in 2004 should Vice President Dick Cheney decide not to run. According to the Globe, because Frist is the first physician elected to the Senate since 1928, he "wields enormous influence" within the GOP and across the nation on medical issues. The Globe states that Frist may be "one of the most powerful men in Washington"; he was a key player in "push[ing]" President Bush to allow limited stem cell research. He also actively opposed the version of patients' rights legislation that would have allowed for the "biggest possible damages" and became a national spokesperson and presidential adviser during the anthrax attacks last fall. However, Frist's "most important political job," according to the Globe, might be his role as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, through which he acquires funding from the medical and pharmaceutical lobbies, among others, in an attempt to win back GOP control of the Senate. The Globe reports that if Republicans regain control of the Senate in the Nov. 5 elections, "Frist's political stock will rise to its highest level yet," and he may be a front-runner for a presidential run in 2008 (Kranish, Boston Globe, 10/27).
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