Phil Crane Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
George W. Bush and Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.]]Philip Miller Crane (born November 3 1930), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1969, representing the 8th District of Illinois. Crane is the longest-serving Republican member of the House.
He was born in Chicago, was educated at Hillsdale College, the University of Vienna, and Indiana University (PhD 1961) and served in the United States Army. He is the brother of former Representative Daniel Crane.
Crane was a faculty member at Indiana University and at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, a staff member for the Republican National Committee, director of research for the 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, and a staff member of (then) former Vice-President Richard Nixon (1964-1968) before entering the House. Crane is a recovering alcoholic.
He was first elected to Congress in the Illinois 13th District, and served there from 1969 to 1973, succeeding Representative Donald Rumsfeld, who was appointed to a position in the Nixon Administration. Following this, Crane represented the 12th District from 1973-93 and the 8th District, from 1993 to the present.
In 2004, Crane is facrf a battle against Democrat Melissa Bean. The Bean Campaign has raised almost as much money as Crane, and in 2002, achieved 43 percent of the vote in the highly Republican 8th District. The race originally was not considered winnable by Bean, but strong fundraising, including an effort by several liberal blogs, helped make her challenge more substantial. Crane lost the election by 4 points.