Tom Allen

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Tom Allen
Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Maine
Opponent(s)	Susan Collins
Incumbent	Susan Collins
Born	April 16, 1945 (1945-04-16) (age 63) Portland, Maine
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Diana Allen
Residence	Portland, Maine
Alma mater	Bowdoin College, Oxford University, Harvard University
Profession	attorney, political assistant
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Thomas Hodge "Tom" Allen (born April 16, 1945) is a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's 1st congressional district and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008 against Sen. Susan Collins.

Allen was first elected in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent James Longley, Jr. with 55 percent of votes cast to Longley's 45 percent. Allen has been re-elected five times since, receiving over 55 percent of the vote each time in his district.

[edit] Personal

Allen was born in Portland, Maine to Genevieve (“Sukey”) Lahee and Charles W. Allen.^[1] He graduated from Deering High School. He went on to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine before winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Wadham College in the University of Oxford. During this time he became friends with Bill Clinton, his fellow Rhodes scholar. After Oxford he went on to Harvard Law School and practiced as a lawyer. He entered the field of politics when he became a staff member for Governor Kenneth M. Curtis and later for Senator Edmund S. Muskie. Allen was elected to the city council of Portland, Maine in 1989 and served as the city's mayor between 1991-1992 before entering the House.

[edit] Congressional service

Tom Allen fought Republican efforts to weaken environmental rollbacks between 1996 and 2007. Allen called for a pay-as-you-go system that would require offsets to pay for new taxcuts and new spending while on the Budget Committee, much like the system Democrats enacted in their first 100 hours of Congressional control in the 110th Congress.

Allen has made health care, campaign finance reform, and small business his legislative priorities.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• House Energy and Commerce Committee
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee
  • Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee
• House Budget Committee
• House Affordable Medicines Task Force (Co-Chairman)
• House Oceans Caucus

[edit] Senate campaign

Main article: Maine United States Senate election, 2008

Allen announced his Senate candidacy on May 8, 2007, in a video on his campaign web site.^[2][3] Critical Insights — an independent polling firm in Portland, Maine — released a poll the same day that showed Senator Susan Collins is a strong favorite. The poll of 600 likely voters, including 38% Democrats, showed 54% percent of Democrats supported Allen; 10% of those polled responded that they were undecided. Collins had the support of 85% of Republicans and 65% of independents.^[4]

Allen has received at least $250,000 in campaign funds raised by MoveOn.org. ^[5][6] Allen declined to condemn MoveOn.org's newspaper ad questioning General Petraeus's honesty, stating that it is a free speech issue.^[7]

Tom Allen's office has been beset by protesters wanting him to proceed with impeachment of President Bush,^[8] followed by police and by Laurie Dobson, also an announced opponent in the 2008 Maine Senate race in the seventh day of her hunger strike seeking to draw publicity from political figures to pressure Rep. Allen on this impeachment issue.

[edit] Election history

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Tom Allen, U.S. House site
• Tom Allen for U.S. Senate, Campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Featured in: The Lure of The Law Moll, Richard W.
• Rep. Tom Allen at PoliticalBase.com