ShareThisBy JOSH SWARTZLANDER
Monday, November 13, 2006
Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., strides into his office on Capitol Hill - a combination of football and congressional memorabilia decorating the walls - mutes Fox News anchor John Gibson and lowers his rangy frame into a leather chair.
The Nebraska football legend doesn't have a lot of time. Congress is set to recess in a couple days, and he still has important legislation to talk about on the House floor.
By all rights, he should be tired.
He's going on 70. Nearing the end of three terms in Congress, he's spent countless hours traveling between Washington and Nebraska's sprawling rural 3rd District.
He visited that district all but four weekends. Those weekends, he visited Iraq.
Osborne brought dogged dedication, star power, integrity and competitiveness to his post, using his Jimmy Stewart-meets-Clint Eastwood persona to pass legislation, according to Nebraska members of Congress, constituents, friends, family members and business leaders.
"He's so soft in his approach," said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., "that you don't realize you're being strong-armed."
But Osborne made more headlines as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhusker football team than he has as a congressman. He has voted almost always on party lines, and most of his legislation has been relatively small in scale.
Osborne, a native of Hastings, Neb., who received a bachelor's degree from Hastings College and a master's and doctorate from the University of Nebraska, became NU's head football coach and offensive coordinator in 1972.
He retired after winning his third and last national championship with the Huskers in 1997. His winning percentage, 84 percent, was the highest among active coaches.
Osborne is probably most famous for Nebraska's loss to Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl. Down one point after scoring a touchdown in the game's waning moments, Osborne went for two rather than kick an extra-point kick to tie the game _ and probably win the national title. The Huskers failed to convert, but the gutsy call thrust Osborne into the spotlight.
"This was not an ordinary freshman congressman," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. "He could have used his high profile and reputation to not work as hard. But he worked as hard in the job as anyone I've ever known."
Said Turner Gill, a former player and assistant coach under Osborne: "He had a unique way of communicating with people - whether it was the 14th defensive lineman or the first-string quarterback."
From his leather chair, Osborne monotonously rattles off his biggest accomplishments in Washington:
_Strengthening the safety net for Nebraska farmers and increasing the nation's commitment to biofuel research.
_Providing mentoring programs for children, mental health care for college students and grants for rural schools.
_Protecting student athletes from unscrupulous sports agents and prohibiting steroid precursors from being sold over-the-counter.
_Boosting rural economic development and creating awareness of methamphetamine addiction.
_Working to curb underage drinking and improve health care access to rural veterans.
"As a coach and a congressman, he was totally admired by everyone he met," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
Not quite.
Donna Anderson, a Columbus, Neb. Democrat who ran against Osborne in 2004 and lost by a wide margin, calls him a "rubber stamp for the Bush administration" who has represented the interests of "big corporate farms" over family farms.
Osborne has sided with the Bush administration on most major issues, including tax cuts, the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, a ban on partial-birth abortion and constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and desecration of the American flag.
He did vote against his party in support of Sen. John McCain's, R-Ariz., effort to ban inhuman or degrading treatment of U.S.-held detainees.
Osborne says he is not partisan, that he represents all interests in his district, that his beliefs happen to align with the Republican Party most of the time.
It's hard to argue that he's sold out to special interest groups. He didn't accept a penny from them - nor did he accept large personal donations - in any of his congressional campaigns.
"I really don't like partisanship," he says. "That doesn't mean I'm not a conservative."
One of Osborne's aides walks into the office. It's showtime - the congressman will be on the House floor in 15 minutes, touting the Federal Youth Coordination Act, designed to get the most bang out of every federal buck going toward such youth service programs as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Campfire USA and YMCA of the USA.
The legislation gets final House approval. Osborne smiles.
After losing a gubernatorial primary bid earlier this year, what will he do next?
"Go home," he says. "The big challenge will be staying out of Nancy's way."
His wife Nancy Osborne said politics "was probably more discouraging than anything else" for her husband, that he became disgusted when Congress felt more like "high school."
"We've kind of joked that we've never really lived together," she added. "I don't think he will ever retire in the formal sense. I sort of think of him as John Wayne - going into the next town and making things right."
