Kasten, Robert

Kasten was born in Milwaukee . In 1966, he received a master 's degree in business administration from Columbia University in 1966. He served in the United States National Guard Air Force from 1966 to 1972.

Kasten was elected to the Senate from Wisconsin in 1972. In 1974, he was elected to the US House of Representatives from the Republican Party. He was re-elected in 1976. Kasten ran for governor of Wisconsin in 1978, but lost to Republican candidate Lee S. Dreyfus. Kasten ran for the U.S. Senate in 1980 and defeated the liberal Democrat and environmentalist, incumbent Senator Gaylord Nelson. Kasten’s victory is partially attributed to the popularity of Ronald Reagan, which contributed to his getting to the top of the list of Republican nominees. In the Senate, Casten became famous as an ardent advocate of conservative ideas. He was the first Republican to represent Wisconsin in the Senate since Alexander Wiley, who left office in 1963.

In 1986, Kasten by a small margin defeated Democrat Ed Garvey, having been reelected and earning the ironic nickname “Bob with a big margin” for his small margin in every Senate election. Kasten was ousted by Democrat Russ Feingold in 1992.

Since 1993, he was president of the consulting firm Casten & Company.

In July 2007, it was announced that Casten had joined the Republican campaign, Rudi Giuliani, as a foreign policy adviser. ^[1] In August, it was announced that Kasten would also chair the Giuliani campaign in Wisconsin, along with former Rep. Scott Klug and former Senator Katie Stepp.