Editing Marlow Cook (section)

==Later career==
Following his political career, Cook practiced law in [[Washington, D.C.]] until 1989, when he retired to [[Sarasota, Florida]].<ref name="congbio" /> In a fiery op-ed, he announced his support for Democrat [[John Kerry]] of [[Massachusetts]] in the [[2004 United States presidential election]]: "I have been, and will continue to be, a Republican. But when we as a party send the wrong person to the White House [[George W. Bush]], then it is our responsibility to send him home if our nation suffers as a result of his actions."<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.courierjournal.com/cjextra/editorials/2004/10/20/oped-marlow1020-8060.html|title = A former Republican senator for Kerry|author = Cook, Marlow|work = Louisville Courier-Journal|date = October 20, 2004|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041223035021/http://www.courierjournal.com/cjextra/editorials/2004/10/20/oped-marlow1020-8060.html|archive-date = December 23, 2004}}</ref>

Some of his former aides went on to congressional careers. [[Mitch McConnell]], later the [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Minority Leader]], was Cook's chief legislative aide from 1968 to 1970,<ref>{{cite news|title=Senator in tough spot on Hill, in Ky.; McConnell faces pressure to act on war in Iraq|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=July 9, 2007|author=Kiely, Kathy|pages=7A}}</ref> and [[John Yarmuth]], then-chair of the [[United States House Committee on the Budget]], was an aide to Cook in the 1970s, later becoming a Democrat before running for office.<ref>{{cite news|title=John Yarmuth (D)|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|pages=A41|date=November 9, 2006}}</ref>

Cook, however, opposed McConnell in the 1984 campaign. McConnell defeated the incumbent Democratic senator, [[Walter Dee Huddleston]].

In later years, Cook was uncertain about what he considered McConnell's turn to the right. McConnell had helped Cook to advance the unsuccessful [[Equal Rights Amendment]], but Cook opposed his former aide on several other pieces of legislation, particularly his opposition to the [[Affordable Care Act]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-runyon/remembering-sen-marlow-co_b_9167644.html|title=Remembering Sen. Marlow Cook: One of Kentucky's last moderate Republicans|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|date=February 5, 2016|author=Keith Runyon|access-date=February 10, 2016}}</ref>

Cook died on February 4, 2016, in Sarasota, Florida from complications from a [[heart attack]], at age 89.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gerth|first1=Joseph|title=Marlow Cook, former senator, county judge, dies|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/04/marlow-cook-former-senator-county-judge-dies/79664182/|access-date=February 4, 2016|agency=Louisville Courier-Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/marlow-cook-a-former-gop-senator-kentucky-dies-at-89/2016/02/04/272bcf50-cb76-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html|title=Marlow Cook, a former GOP Senator Kentucky, dies at 89|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=February 4, 2016}}</ref>