Jim Bunning Totally Explained

Everything about Jim Bunning totally explained

James Paul David "Jim" Bunning (born October 23, 1931) is an American politician who was a Hall of Fame pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1971. He subsequently entered electoral politics and was eventually elected to the United States Senate from Kentucky; he's served there since 1999 as the Republican junior U.S. Senator. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Kentucky's 4th Congressional District from 1987 to 1999.

Education and family

Bunning was born in Southgate, Kentucky to Gladys Best and Louis Aloysius Bunning. He graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1949 and later received a bachelor's degree in economics from Xavier University.
In 1952, Bunning married Mary Catherine Theis, with whom he's had five daughters and four sons.

Major League Baseball career

Jim Bunning's first game as a major league pitcher was on July 20, 1955. He pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1955 to 1963, moving to the Philadelphia Phillies from 1964 through 1967, to the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1968 through the middle of the 1969 season, finished the 1969 season on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and returned to the Phillies in 1970, retiring in 1971. He wore uniform number 15 on the 1955 Tigers, switched to 14 in 1956, which was the number he wore for the Tigers, Phillies, and Pirates until he was traded to the Dodgers in 1969. For the Dodgers, he wore number 17, but returned to number 14 when he returned to the Phillies, who retired the number upon his election to the Hall of Fame.
Bunning is remembered for his role in the pennant race of 1964, in which the Phillies held a commanding lead in the National League for most of the season, only to eventually lose the title to the St. Louis Cardinals. Manager Gene Mauch used Bunning and fellow hurler Chris Short heavily down the stretch, and the two became visibly fatigued as September wore on. The collapse of the 1964 Phillies remains one of the most infamous in baseball history, as they enjoyed a six and a half game lead as late as September 21, only to lose 10 games in a row and finish tied for second place.
Bunning pitched his first no-hitter on July 20, 1958, for the Detroit Tigers against the Boston Red Sox. His second, for the Philadelphia Phillies, was a perfect game, which came against the New York Mets on June 21, 1964, Father's Day. Bunning's perfect game was the first in the National League in 84 years. He is one of only five players to throw a no-hitter in both leagues. He played in the All-Star Games in 1957, 1959, every year from 1961 through 1964, and in 1966. On August 2, 1959, Bunning struck out three batters on nine pitches in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Bunning became the fifth American League pitcher and the 10th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the nine-pitch/three-strikeout half-inning. In 1996 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee. Bunning has received the most votes cast by the BBWAA during the course of all players' Hall of Fame eligibility periods, collecting well over 3,000 votes.

Career stats

W	L	PCT	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	R	HR	BB	IBB	SO	WP	HBP	BK
224	184	.549	3.27	591	519	151	40	16	3,760.1	3,433	1,366	1,527	372	1,000	98	2,855	47	160	8

Political career

Political views

Bunning is one of the Senate's most conservative members, gaining high marks from several conservative interest groups. He was ranked by National Journal as the second-most conservative United States Senator in their March 2007 conservative/liberal rankings, after Sen. Jim DeMint(R-SC)(External Link

Kentucky state politics

First elected to office in 1977, the ambitious Bunning would serve only two years on the city council of Fort Thomas, Kentucky before running for and winning a seat in the Kentucky Senate as a Republican. He was elected minority leader by his Republican colleagues, a rare feat for a freshman legislator.
Bunning was the Republican candidate for governor in 1983. He and his running mate Eugene P. Stuart lost in the general election to Democrat Martha Layne Collins.

Congress

In 1986, Bunning won the Republican nomination in Kentucky's 4th District, based in Kentucky's share of the Cincinnati metro area, after 10-term incumbent Republican Gene Snyder retired. He won easily in the fall and was reelected five more times without serious opposition in what was considered the most Republican district in Kentucky. After the Republicans gained control of the House in 1995, Bunning served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security until 1999.

First Senate term

In 1998, Senate Minority Whip Wendell Ford decided to retire after 24 years in the Senate — the longest term in Kentucky history. Bunning won the Republican nomination for the seat, and faced fellow Congressman Scotty Baesler, a Democrat from the Lexington-based 6th District, in the general election. Bunning defeated Baesler by just over half a percentage point. The race was very close; Bunning only won by swamping Baesler in the 4th by a margin that Baesler couldn't make up in the rest of the state (Baesler barely won the 6th).
Among the bills that Bunning sponsored is the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004.

Second Senate term

Bunning was heavily favored for a second term in 2004 after his expected Democratic opponent, Governor Paul Patton, saw his career implode in a scandal over an extramarital affair. Eventually, the Democrats settled on Daniel Mongiardo, a relatively unknown physician and state senator from Hazard.
   During his reelection bid in 2004, controversy erupted when Bunning described Mongiardo as looking "like one of Saddam Hussein's sons." Public pressure compelled him to apologize.
   Bunning had an estimated $4 million campaign war chest, while Mongiardo had only $600,000. The Democrats began increasing financial support to Mongiardo when it became apparent that Bunning's bizarre behavior was costing him votes, purchasing more than $800,000 worth of additional television airtime on his behalf.
   The race turned out to be very close, with Mongiardo leading with as many as 80% of the returns coming in. However, Bunning eventually won by just over one percentage point. Some analysts felt that had it not been for George W. Bush's 20% victory in the state, Mongiardo would have won. As Bunning has won both his elections by very narrow margins, he'd be a top target of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee should he stand for reelection in 2010.
   As was expected in light of Bunning's previous career as a baseball player, he's been very interested in Congress's investigation of steroid use in baseball. Bunning has also been outspoken on the issue of illegal immigration taking the position that all illegal immigrants should be deported.
   Bunning was also the only member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to have opposed Ben Bernanke for Chief of the Federal Reserve. He claimed it was because he'd doubts that he wouldn't be different from Alan Greenspan.
   In April 2006, he was selected by Time as one of "America's Five Worst Senators." The magazine dubbed him The Underperformer for his "lackluster performance", noting he "shows little interest in policy unless it involves baseball", and criticized his hostility towards staff and fellow Senators and his "bizarre behavior" during his 2004 campaign.
   On December 6, 2006, Bunning was one of only two senators (along with Rick Santorum), to vote against the confirmation of Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense claiming that
Bunning has a 45% approval rating, while 43% disapproving.(External Link

)

Committee Assignments

Committee on Finance

Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Health Care
Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness

Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Subcommittee on Economic Policy (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Subcommittee on Energy
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
Subcommittee on Water and Power

Committee on the Budget

Electoral history

Further Information

Get more info on 'Jim Bunning'.

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