Born in Ottawa , Kansas , he pursued a legal career in Denver , Colorado , after graduating from Yale Law School . He managed Senator George McGovern 's successful campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination and McGovern 's unsuccessful general election campaign against President Richard Nixon . Hart defeated incumbent Republican Senator Peter Dominick in Colorado 's 1974 Senate election . In the Senate , he served on the Church Committee and led the Senate investigation regarding the Three Mile Island accident . After narrowly winning re-election in 1980 , he sponsored the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 , becoming known as an " Atari Democrat "
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
Gary Hart