No guarantee for senators up for top Cabinet posts

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Serving in the U.S. Senate is no longer a hassle-free ticket to a plum Cabinet post.

Only one senator appointment to a top administration job has gone down in flames in modern political history – President George H.W. Bush’s nomination of Sen. John Tower to serve as secretary of Defense in 1989. The Senate rejected Tower’s appointment in 1989 on a 53-47 vote amid allegations of alcohol abuse and heavy womanizing.

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