By Judy Sarasohn Thursday, January 9, 2003; Page A23

Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle's decision not to run for president means Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell gets to keep its aviation lobbyist, Linda Hall Daschle.

Daschle, wife of the South Dakota Democrat, had told the Tennessee-based law firm that she would leave to join his presidential campaign should he decide to run. And that's the way it was looking until Tuesday morning.

"I had told them I did not want to miss the opportunity to support Tom," she said in an interview yesterday.

It would have been the first time in 25 years that she would not have been working on aviation matters. Daschle, who is committed to not lobbying her husband or anyone else in the Senate, previously served as deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration during the Clinton administration and has worked for the American Association of Airport Executives, the Air Transport Association of America and the old Civil Aeronautics Board.

Also at Baker, Donelson: Former House member Ed Bryant, who lost a nasty battle with Lamar Alexander for the Republican nomination for Senate from Tennessee last year, has joined the public policy team at the firm. (Alexander went on to win the Senate seat.)

-- Anonymous, January 09, 2003