Jim Simon

From West Wing Wiki

James Segal Simon (1948-) was Governor of South Dakota from 1987-1991 and U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1991-2003.

Simon was born in Illinois and is the cousin of the late Senator Paul Simon. Simon moved to South Dakota in 1965 to attend college. After graduation he joined the U.S. Navy and saw service in South Vietnam, in 1973 he switch over to the Naval Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant.

Over the next few years, Simon became a successful businessman (eventually becoming a muti-millionaire). In 1978, Simon was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives defeating Democrat Tom Daschle. Simon served four terms in Congress before being elected Governor of South Dakota in 1986. During his tenure Simon made a name for himself as a strong fiscal conservative balancing the states budgets every year during his term of office. Although he claimed to be pro-life, Simon's social credentials would come under attack when made a bid for the White House. In 1990, Simon ran for U.S. Senator to replace retiring Republican Larry Pressler, Simon was easily elected and also won re-election in 1996. In 2002, Simon decided not to seek a third term in the Senate. Instead he sought the Republican nomination for President and was considerd the early favorite having raised over 60 million dollars and having a stronger name I.D. than most of the other presidential candidates. However, After losing the Iowa caucus to Rob Ritchie, Simon's campaign began to faid, and although he won some midwestern primaries, he was unable to regaine his pomentum and was forced to withdraw from the race. Since his retirment, Simon returned to business and remained active in Republican politics. In 2010, Simon plans to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of South Dakota.