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Former Sen. Bob Bennett dies at 82 - POLITICO

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/bob-bennett-dies-222829

Former Sen. Bob Bennett dies at 82
[image: Bob Bennett]

Bob Bennett was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and served until 2010.
| AP Photo
Former Sen. Bob Bennett dies at 82

Former Sen. Bob Bennett died Wednesday night due to complications from
pancreatic cancer and a stroke, his family said in a statement on Wednesday
evening.

The former Utah senator was 82. He is survived by wife Joyce, six children
and 20 grandchildren.

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"His final days were filled with kindness and love, and the family greatly
appreciates the outpouring of well wishes and support. It touched his
heart, and deeply touched ours, to see how much he was loved," the Bennett
family said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who served for 18 years
with Bennett, said the former senator would be remembered as a "smart and
level-headed senator."

“Bob Bennett once said that there are two kinds of senators in Washington,
work horses and show horses; it’s clear to anyone who knew him which path
Senator Bennett followed," McConnell said on Wednesday night. "Bob
preferred the often low-key work of legislating to the bright lights of the
media and approached his work with creativity, constructiveness, and honor."

Bennett was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and served until 2010, when
he was defeated at the Utah Republican State convention by Sen. Mike Lee.

Before being elected to the Senate, Bob Bennett worked for his father
Wallace Bennett, himself a longtime Utah GOP senator. He was a missionary
for the Mormon Church and a National Guard member as a young man and before
becoming a senator had a long career in business and politics.

While viewed as a reliable conservative vote for many years, his reelection
campaign in 2010 suffered after his voting record on fiscal issues —
particularly the effort to rescue the U.S. financial system — was panned by
the rising tea party movement. His loss, and that of Sen. Dick Lugar of
Indiana two years later, shifted GOP politics significantly, forcing
Republicans to watch their right flanks in primary contests.

After his stunning loss, Bennett went on to work in law and consulting and
taught college classes. He said he had few regrets about his voting record.

"Looking back on them, with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn't
have cast any of them any differently, even if I had known at the time they
were going to cost me my career," he said
<http://www.politico.com/story/2010/05/sen-bennett-loses-gop-nomination-036960>
in 2010.
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Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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