[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1099-S1100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Hal Malchow

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the incredible 
life of a dear friend and a great American, Hal Malchow, someone whom I 
think many of my colleagues on the Democratic side have known.
  I first met Hal in 1985. I was visiting my dear friend from law 
school, Rob McDuff, in Oxford, MS. Hal and I were pretty young back in 
those days, both interested in politics, and the two of us really hit 
it off at a party that Rob hosted.
  Now, Hal has long enjoyed a successful career as one of the country's 
premier political consultants, but before that, he went to Millsaps 
College and then the McGeorge School of Law in California. He did 
practice law for a bit in Jackson, MS. But Hal's real passion was never 
the law; it was always politics.
  In fact, when young, aspiring lawyers would come to his office to get 
advice about following him into law, Hal was known to reach into his 
big, impressive wooden desk and pull out his latest rental car contract 
with Hertz.
  ``See that contract?'' he would ask the enterprising, would-be 
attorney, slapping it face down on the table. ``You go to law school, 
you are going to spend the rest of your career writing those kind of 
deals.''
  So after a few years as a bond attorney in Mississippi, Hal turned 
his attention to politics. He took on three different candidates as a 
campaign manager and managed to lose all three races.
  Undaunted, in 1984, Hal took on a new challenge. There was an up-and-
coming young Congressman from Tennessee with a pretty good resume and a 
well-known family name who was thinking about running for the Senate. 
And despite his rather unimpressive track record so far, Hal managed to 
get an interview.
  ``So,'' Al Gore said to him, ``I've got one question for you, Hal. If 
I hire you to be my campaign manager, how am I supposed to explain it 
to my supporters?''
  The way Hal tells it, he looked Gore in the eye and said, ``Everyone 
in Tennessee thinks you're a lock for this seat. But you can tell them 
you're taking nothing for granted because you hired the hungriest SOB 
in the country to run your race.''
  Needless to say, Hal got the job, and Al Gore went on to the Senate 
that year. Soon, Hal moved to DC. Starting at his kitchen table in a 
small, one-room apartment, he managed to build the Nation's largest 
voter contact firm, pioneering the use of advanced data analytics to 
revolutionize political targeting, launching experiments to measure and 
improve campaign tactics, and revolutionizing direct mail and 
fundraising.
  He brought the notion of the ``moneyball'' approach to politics a 
decade before anybody else was doing it. That will be one of Hal's 
greatest legacies to the Democratic Party and to American politics: the 
idea that spending decisions should actually be driven by data. He 
wanted to hold campaign consultants like himself accountable for being 
wise stewards of donor dollars. He measured success in effectiveness, 
hard proof that spending motivated voters one way or the other.
  Hal worked on every one of my campaigns; and at one point or another, 
I suspect that Hal has worked with at least half of my colleagues on 
the Democratic side. But Hal was more than just a consultant; he is 
also my friend. I know him not only for his brilliant, strategic mind 
but as someone who is honest, loyal, and extraordinarily creative. My 
wife Lisa and I have looked forward to receiving his hilarious 
Christmas cards. He would create a different message and a different 
approach every holiday season.
  In addition to writing a series of political books on moving and 
motivating voters, Hal is also an accomplished fiction writer. His 
writing career began when his then-8-year-old son approached him with 
an idea. Two years later, they completed the first draft of ``The Sword 
of Darrow,'' a highly acclaimed young-adult fantasy novel. In 2014, 
writing alone, he published a sequel, ``The Dragon and the Firefly,'' 
before penning two political thrillers, including ``42 Million to 
One,'' a finalist for a number of international and national book 
awards.
  As that story illustrates, Hal is also a devoted father to his son, 
Alex. For many years, he served on the board of trustees at Alex's alma 
mater, the Lab School. After his son was diagnosed with dyslexia, Hal 
dove into the challenges facing other children like Alex, eventually 
becoming the president of the International Dyslexia Association.
  Hal is also the biggest Cheesehead I know. Hal was very proud of the 
fact--

[[Page S1100]]

even though he had grown up in Mississippi--that his grandfather was 
one of the original shareholders in the Green Bay Packers. And Hal has 
followed in his grandfather's and his father's footsteps as a Packers 
fan. For the last several decades, Hal has organized annual trips to 
Green Bay to watch the Packers play, and I was lucky enough to join him 
in November for what has turned out to be Hal's final football season.
  Now struggling with the effects of Alzheimer's, Hal has approached 
his illness the same way he has approached life: with no bitterness. He 
said to me, the last time I saw him, ``I'm the luckiest guy in the 
world, with the life I've lived.'' He tells me he has no regrets, so I 
can't have any either.
  So Lisa and I will continue to keep Hal and his family--including 
Anne, Alex, and Astrid--in our thoughts and hold them close to our 
hearts during this difficult season.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator from Vermont.