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Illness & Wedding Bells Among Longest-Serving Senators

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May 21, 2008 1:08 PM

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Nothing is more important among Senators than seniority. It determines which committees they sit on, which committees they chair, who speaks first and which offices they receive. So, it's no surprise that senators strive to stay in office for a long time. Of the 10 longest-serving senators, four of them are currently in office.

The reigning longevity champ is Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, who at 90 has been in office more than 49 years. Byrd is chairman of the most important committee -- the Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings. But, he has been ailing of late. Byrd fell in March, though he didn't break any bones, he was hospitalized for a period of time and had a bad reaction to antibiotics.  So far, however, he's withstood some discussion about being replaced as chairman of the committee.

The second longest serving sitting senator is Sen. Ted Kennedy, who chairs the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Kennedy, who while he still appears fit, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  He's been in office for 45 years and 2 months. (Sen. Strom Thurmond, who left the Senate in 2003, served a hair longer at 47 years and 5.2 months).

The website of the Senate Historian specifies Kennedy service to the month because the third longest serving sitting senator, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-HI, (4th longest serving of all time) came to the Senate two months after Kennedy, who was first elected in a special election in 1962.

Inouye, who chairs the Commerce Committee, does not seem to have the same health problems that Byrd and now Kennedy do. In fact, at 83, the Medal of Honor winner who lost an arm in World War II will start a new chapter in his life on Saturday when he gets married in Los Angeles, Calif.

It'll be the second marriage both for Inouye and Irene Hirano, 59, who runs the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, a position she will leave next month.

Inouye was married to his first wife, Margaret Awamura Inouye, for nearly 60 years, but she died in 2006 after a battle with colon cancer.

Byrd lost his wife of 69 years, the former Erma Ora James who was the daughter of a coal miner, also in 2006. He has been known to give emotional speeches about her on the Senate floor and was brought to tears describing their dog at a hearing on tainted dog food in 2007.  The senior Senator has been known to let the Shih Tzu wander the halls of Congress with him. Kennedy, too, brings his two Portuguese Water Dogs, Splash and Sunny to work.

Kennedy also remarried a much younger woman, when he tied the knot with Victoria Reggie, 22 years his junior, in July of 1992. It was a second marriage for both.

Sen. Strom Thurmond, who died at 100 in 2003, shortly after retiring from the Senate, still beats out Kennedy in years of service, having held office for 47 years and 5.2 months. He was married twice and was discovered after his death to have fathered a biracial daughter by another relationship.

The fourth longest serving sitting senator, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Ark., (7th longest of all time) is seeking reelection.

May 21, 2008 in Washington | Permalink | User Comments (20)

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a new name,

In which country? Or should I say world? Stop quoting the clown math, no one is buying it.

Posted by: Really? | May 21, 2008 1:39:30 PM

a new name: Hillary Clinton signed an agreement not to count FL and MI last year. Terry McAuliffe, a Rules and Committee member, warned and then followed through on his threat to FL and MI to strip them of their delegates if they moved up their primaries.

How do you explain that?

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:08:32 PM

If that was a mistake not counting numbers in the first place, it ought be corrected.


I thought it was BHO who preaches CHANGE.


Why do you want to be so boneheaded to stick on a wrong decision and not correcting it after realization of the mistake? That reminds us something and someone familiar - BHO = GWB.

Posted by: a new name | May 21, 2008 2:14:12 PM

Here's out presumptive nominee:

120 out of 120.

That's the number of counties, lost, in Kentucky.

Posted by: phony | May 21, 2008 2:17:31 PM

waitwaitwaitwait. Now you're saying it was a mistake?! THAT'S your argument? Really?

She signed an agreement!!! Her campaign manager was the one to ACTUALLY strip them of the delegates!!!

In the face of these irrefutable facts, you come up with THAT response?

That's pretty weak.

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:18:23 PM

It's a mistake of the DNC.

Posted by: phony | May 21, 2008 2:20:26 PM

WRONG. Terry McAuliffe HIMSELF warned the delegations acting on behalf of the DNC. Don't blame the DNC when most of the committee members are Clinton activists. Don't blame the DNC when Hillary Clinton HERSELF signed the agreement.

You can't have it both ways.

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:23:30 PM

If the BHO was so far sighted, full of HOPE, CHANGE, where was his judgment following these obvious mistakes?


I did not see his criticizing the irresponsible decisions of the DNC. Rather, he took his name off the ballot, and then, winning he did not receive any votes.


Can someone teach him that if he took his name off the ballot of an election to pander the voters of Iowa and NH, he discarded these voters and he is bound not to get any votes?

Take just one single responsibility for what he has done.

Posted by: a new name | May 21, 2008 2:25:23 PM

a new name: All the candidates were STRONGLY urged to take their names off the ballot by the DNC, and as we know, the Clintons control that committee.

Clinton was the ONLY candidate to leave her name on. Everyone else followed the rules set by a committee controlled by her, and yet she did not follow her own committee's recommendation.

Can someone please teach HER about rules?

Anyone?

Anyone at all?

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:28:41 PM

Texas Voter - It sounds like that HRC has a better judgment that BHO, by keeping her name ballot and demonstrating to the MI voters that she wants their votes.


I do not know what was said behind closed doors, and I do not see a single bit that BHO is so clean (oops, if you say he is clean you are a racist - hope, HOPE to say he is not clean will not be branded as a racist).

Posted by: phony | May 21, 2008 2:33:37 PM

phony - So, let me get this straight. Her committee says take you name off. Barack complies (along with all other nominees at the time). She is the only one to leave her name on. She also at the time signed an agreement that MI and FL would not count. Terry McAuliffe, her campaign manger, strips the two states of their delegates.

Now, surprise surprise, she wants them to count, even though it was a mess of her DIRECT doing?

Are you serious? This is your big argument?

Please tell me you have something else. Please tell me you're not hanging your entire argument on this.

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:38:18 PM

Texas Voter - First of all, nobody asked nobody to take their name off, and nobody asked nobody to abide the DNC rules. They all volunteered not to campaign in MI and FL. Secondly, it is not only HRC's name on the ballot. Thirdly, it is BHO who went one step further, along with a couple of other people, to take his name off the MI ballot, for no other reason but pandering Iowa voters to show that he is "more phony" to keep Iowa caucusing first. Fourth, BHO realized he made a mistake, and decided to keep his name on the ballot of FL. Fifth, since his name was on the ballot of FL, he started airing commercials in FL, breaking DNC rules. He was stopped because it was pointed out that he had been breaking rules, and he came out with a phony excuse as he does whenever he is criticized on his mistakes.


If any rules were broken, it is BHO who really broke the rules.

Posted by: phony | May 21, 2008 2:45:08 PM

Oh, my, phony. That's so flimsy, I'm truly frightened to even respond.

First, you're right, Chris Dodd's name was also on the ballot. That was my mistake, and I apologize for my mistake.

Second, you say Obama advertised in FL. That is absolutely false. He was advertising on CNN. Not once did he break the rules, but just to avoid even a whiff of impropriety, he stopped. By the way, while we're on this subject, how do you explain Hillary's "fundraising" rally in Florida days before the primary, where she delivered a stump speech? THAT is breaking the rules, my friend, plain and simple.

All of this is moot, of course. Hillary signed an agreement that these delegates would not count, and it was her campaign manager, Terry McAuliffe, that actually warned MI and FL that they would be stripped.

Those are the FACTS, and they are irrefutable.

Posted by: Texas Voter | May 21, 2008 2:57:34 PM

Texas -

My friend, I agree with you we are not going to agree.

But, let me rebut you one more time.

Breaking rules is breaking rules, whether you air advertisement on CNN or on BHO. He knew if he airs on CNN it will be seen by FL, so he does it. If you tell me BHO does not know, and his advisors do not know, then, you are telling they are so dumb that they do not know what they are doing. Then, I do not trust this phony to run the country. There were already 8 years of a phony who does not know what he is doing running this country.

Fund-raising in FL does not break rules. If you do not agree, check the rules.


I do not argue with you that BHO is or has stolen the nomination, but a mistake made by the DNC should be corrected, and CHANGED. You do not want to stick to mistakes while you know it is a mistake, do you, or does BHO?

Posted by: phony | May 21, 2008 3:05:34 PM

Ted Stevens R not from ARK; but AK

Posted by: kodiak | May 21, 2008 7:45:12 PM

Yu al say the Clinton's are the greatest politicians in the world, but between them they have an impeachment(one of only 2 in U.S. history) and a spectacular failure in an election that she thought she had a divine right to. How many other new standards are you going to come up with to determine the outcome? It doesn't matterhow many counties Obama lost in Kentucky or WV for that matter. Likewise the overall popular vote is irrelevant. It's DELEGATES, stupid! If you don't like the system then try to Obama-proof it in 2012

Posted by: toast | May 21, 2008 8:10:35 PM

Hey Obama, I think people who break rules should be punished. Since, you being a Harvard man conveniently "didn't know" that your NATIONAL AD showing in FL was not allowed (please!), and so you campaigned; you should not get a choice in how many delegates it is fair to have or not. For breaking the rules!

Posted by: irma | May 22, 2008 1:21:08 PM

another fact check Ark is the the old abbreviation for Arkansas. AR is the current one. AK is for Alaska which has no Rs in it.

Posted by: Veneita | May 22, 2008 4:17:55 PM

Senator TED STevens is an R from Alaska not Arkansas. Lots of folks make this error.

Posted by: scs in alaska | May 22, 2008 5:20:22 PM

There's the Arkansas-Alaska mistake, and then there's the Akaka mistake. Akaka has only been in the Senate since 1990. Z. Bryon Wolf has confused Akaka with Inouye. Why can't we have a better press corps?

Posted by: Byrddogs | Jun 3, 2008 12:18:06 AM

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