Mack, Anyone?

ONE of the first things people notice about Connie Mack is the hole in his smile. At 13, the future Republican senator from Florida dove into a swimming pool and chipped his front tooth. The dentist told him he was too young to have it capped because the root might die. A few years later, the question came up again. “I decided never to do anything about it,” says Mack. “It had become a part of who I am.”

That’s another thing about Mack: He may be more comfortable with who he is than any other politician in Washington. He plans to retire from the Senate next January—a decision he announced more than a year ago, to complete surprise in a city of climbers. Mack leaves behind a safe seat and a career still on the rise. In his 1994 reelection campaign (against Hillary Clinton’s brother), he won 71 percent of the vote—more than any other GOP Senate candidate that year. In 1996, Bob Dole very nearly chose him as his running mate. Today Mack says 18 years in Congress is enough, and that if he had to live his life over again, maybe he’d go into genetics research or biotechnology. “I don’t want to give the impression that I’m tired of politics, because I’m not,” he says. “But I’ll be 60 in October. If I’m going to do something different with my life, the time is now, not when I’m 66.”

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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ONE of the first things people notice about Connie Mack is the hole in his smile. At 13, the future Republican senator from Florida dove into a swimming pool and chipped his front tooth. The dentist told him he was too young to have it capped because the root might die. A few years later, the question came up again. “I decided never to do anything about it,” says Mack. “It had become a part of who I am.”

That’s another thing about Mack: He may be more comfortable with who he is than any other politician in Washington. He plans to retire from the Senate next January—a decision he announced more than a year ago, to complete surprise in a city of climbers. Mack leaves behind a safe seat and a career still on the rise. In his 1994 reelection campaign (against Hillary Clinton’s brother), he won 71 percent of the vote—more than any other GOP Senate candidate that year. In 1996, Bob Dole very nearly chose him as his running mate. Today Mack says 18 years in Congress is enough, and that if he had to live his life over again, maybe he’d go into genetics research or biotechnology. “I don’t want to give the impression that I’m tired of politics, because I’m not,” he says. “But I’ll be 60 in October. If I’m going to do something different with my life, the time is now, not when I’m 66.”

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.