Saxby Chambliss: “I rise, like my leader from Kentucky, to celebrate the life of Paul Douglas Coverdell. I thank the leader for his kind…”

“I rise, like my leader from Kentucky, to celebrate the life of Paul Douglas Coverdell. I thank the leader for his kind comments about a very personal friend to both Senator Isakson and me as well as to the leader. Paul Coverdell served in this body from 1993 until his untimely death on July 18, 2000. Paul was a longtime politician in our State, having first run for office in 1968. He lost the first election and then was elected to the State senate in 1970. He rose to the rank of minority leader in the Georgia State Senate and had a successful career there. He then decided to run for Congress and lost his first race for the House of Representatives. Paul did something that is so Coverdell-like in the summer of 1978. He was then the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. He was on vacation in Maine. He knew, obviously, of the soon-to-be Vice President, George H.W. Bush, but he didn't know him and he wanted to get to know him. So he walked up to his house in Kennebunkport--didn't have to worry about the Secret Service back then--and knocked on his front door. President Bush came to the front door. He introduced himself. They became fast friends after that. When President Bush was elected, Paul Coverdell was very involved in his campaign. He wrote him a simple note. He said: If I can help you, I would like to.”