In the years since he served as a Domestic Policy Advisor to President Reagan, Gary Bauer has become one of the leading voices in the American conservative movement.  He helped build two of the nation's most prominent conservative groups, The Campaign for Working Families and Family Research Council.

Talk shows and political action groups alike seek Gary Bauer out, knowing he's an effective, unabashed spokesman for a "pro-life, pro-family and pro-economic agenda." 

Though he has never held elective office, Gary Bauer was Undersecretary of Education beginning in July 1985 when the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed him.  While serving at that post, he was named Chairman of President Reagan's Special Working Group on the family. 

An author as well as a public speaker, Bauer wrote Our Journey Home; and co-author Children at Risk:  The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Our Kids.

In announcing his campaign, Bauer asked voters "whether or not America can still be a shining city on a hill or whether we are going to continue to sink into the despair, the violence and the death that all too often fills our television sets."

He went on to say that "too many of our children are crying themselves to sleep.  Too many children without a father's arms to comfort them, too many children exploited by sex or drugs or pornography, too many children that have bought into the popular culture's song that if it feels good do it.

"By those measurements, this country is in danger of becoming something much less than a great, great nation. This country can be better than it is today and I intend to make it better. What happened to our country and what are we together going to do about it?"

Bauer summed up why he's running this way: "I am here to tell you that I will devote every ounce of my energy to make sure that every child in America has the choice that every one of you and I have had.  This country can be better than it is today and I intend to make it better."

Gary Bauer received a law degree from Georgetown in 1973.  He and his wife Carol live in Virginia with their three children: Elyse, Sarah, and Zachary.