election swept in ronald reagan and the republican senate, and howard baker took over in the position of majority leader. he had a long political promenade. what was his background? jameshis father was a congressman, and he was someone who wanted to be in leadership. he challenged hugh scott for the majority leader position many times before ultimately becoming the leader, and that is something unheard of today. if you challenge one of your colleagues who is in leadership, instead of saying we want more competition to see how this will work and these are my ideas for how the conference could work better or the senate could work better, backed income of that still was also unheard of. i think that is a testament to his desire to be in leadership, to really try to live up to especially his father-in-law, and the goals he set for himself. james: it is interesting -- susan: it is interesting that he was that ambitious. his nickname was the great conciliator. how did he approach leadership? james: it is interesting because baker comes in, and he is propelled into the leader position by a class of republican senators who were more conservative. think jeremiah denton from ala