A Car & Driver Review

by Tom Daschle

Chalk it up to an elder moment or just plain having too much on my private citizen's plate.  In any case, the submission of the review of a limo that had been sent over for an extended test a while back somehow fell between the cracks.

The somewhat-stretched Cadillac DTS was driven over by a professional chauffeur employed by one of my clients, InterMedia.  It was the thoughtful idea of his boss, a longtime friend and Democrat fundraiser, Leo Hindery.

Limo Leo, as we affectionately refer to him these days, is the former president of the YES cable TV network that airs New York Yankees' and New Jersey Devils' games plus related sports programming.  Use of Leo's luxobarge was never part of my official compensation package at InterMedia so it was, regrettably, easy to overlook the timely writing of the limo review as well as the declaration of this generous perk on my income tax returns. 

Failing to do the latter got me into a bit of hot water.  But that's a whole 'nother story*.

Limousine technology has changed substantially over the last few years.  Everyone read about and, shortly thereafter, got to see President Obama's new state of the art truck-based Caddy security limo at the Inauguration ceremonies.  Most Americans, of course, were actually in attendance and were right there when "The Beast" drove by.

My limo loaner, however, was a lot lighter, more fuel-efficient and far more maneuverable in the congested city streets of New York and DC so the chauffeur was easily able to squeeze into those narrow alleyways where VIP passengers get dropped off at the back door out of the public eye.

None of my fellow lobbyists -- I mean consultants -- who traveled with me from time to time in the limo ever complained about a lack of space or amenities.  The quietness and soft ride qualities of the old sedan-based Caddy limos is known the world over and is highly regarded for affording passengers a drama-free champagne sipping experience en route to important meetings and functions.

In short, after tooling around in Limousine Liberal One -- my wife aptly named the car -- it was really tough to climb back into my 1971 Pontiac compact that had become famous with the folks back home in South Dakota. (see video)

*Editor's note: Mr. Daschle reimbursed the IRS $31,462 in taxes and interest for tax year 2005; $35,546 for 2006; and $34,935 for 2007, and claims he asked his accountant to look into the tax implications of the car and driver months before Barack Obama announced him as a cabinet position candidate.

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