It's that of a gutsy, up-by-her-bootstraps heroine--daughter of a Las Vegas showgirl and a show-promoter father who died when Dunn was 12.

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None of the possible contenders, though, can claim the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps, Greatest Generation personal story that shaped Frank Lautenberg's years of public service.

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Vice President Dick Cheney, after accepting his party's renomination, gave a nod to the pulling-up-by-the-bootstraps topic when he mentioned that his grandparents had lived in a railroad car.

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