Senator Warren Rudman
Warren Rudman, a former United States Senator from New Hampshire, has died at the age of 82. Wikipedia

Warren Rudman, a former U.S. senator from New Hampshire, has died at the age of 82.

Rudman, who served between 1980 and 1993 and was instrumental in predicting he danger of terrorist attacks years before 9/11, died just before midnight Monday at a Washington, D.C., hospital from complications of lymphoma, his spokesman, Bob Stevenson, told the Associated Press.

The Republican politician went into the Senate with a reputation as a tough prosecutor, and was called on by leaders and presidents of both parties to tackle tough assignments.

Rudman is best-known as co-sponsor of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget-cutting law, but left the Senate in 1993 before the law ever reached its potential.

Rudman "always had the national good in mind," former Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., told the AP.

"He wasn't extreme one way or the other, except for the good of the country," Hollings said. "He was balanced. That's what we need."

After leaving the Senate, Rudman was twice considered as a possible vice presidential candidate on the ticket of two parties other than the GOP.

In 1996, Ross Perot offered Rudman the slot to be his vice presidential running mate on the Reform Party ticket, but Rudman refused.

Also in 2004, Rudman was mentioned as possible running mate for Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Kerry eventually selected John Edwards.

He never ran for president, but Rudman did accept Sen. John McCain's offer to serve as campaign chair in his 2000 presidential campaign.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Rudman to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which Rudman was chairman from 1995 to 2001.

On Jan. 8, 2001, Rudman was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by Clinton.

Later that year, before the 9/11 attacks, he co-authored a report on national security with former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart that said a major terrorist attack on American soil was likely within 25 years.

"No one seemed to take it seriously, and no one in the media seemed to care," Rudman said in 2007. "The report went into a dustbin in the White House."

Rudman and his wife, Shirley, had three children.