Interesting read ~ in my view, there are very definite "pros" and very definite "cons" in the youth factor ~ personally, I am not happy with the thought that today's senatorial [or congressional] behavior might well become the "norm" ~ but I especially love that the Senate "gets its name from the Latin word for old man" ~ ~ Sooz

Last week's retirement announcements by senior Democrats Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut guarantee that at least 23 of the 100 senators in office at the beginning of 2007 will be gone when the new Congress convenes next year - along with 400 years of seniority, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

Other departures: Four senators appointed last year to fill unexpired terms aren't seeking election in November. One, Democrat Paul Kirk, will be replaced after a special election next week in Massachusetts for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat. The Senate's longest-serving Republican woman, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, will leave if her gubernatorial bid is successful.

For a chamber that prides itself on its deliberative pace and deference to long-tenured members, it's an unusual amount of churn. Ten months before the November elections, the Senate's current four-year turnover rate is close to the last peak during the Clinton administration. From 1993 to 1997, the Senate lost 30 members with nearly 500 years of experience.

A new generation is taking their place. "We have 10 senators now who were born in the 1960s," Senate historian Donald Ritchie says.

Newer senators are moving into leadership. The top Democrat on the homeland security subcommittee that oversees government contracts is Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, elected in 2006. The top Republican on the Armed Services subcommittee that monitors emerging threats to the nation is the Senate's youngest member, 40-year-old George Lemieux, R-Fla. Appointed in September after Sen. Mel Martinez resigned, he's not seeking re-election this year.

One downside in the view of Frances Lee, a University of Maryland political scientist: The newer senators aren't steeped in the traditions of bipartisanship and collegiality that characterized an earlier era.

"Today's ways of doing business in the chamber will come to be seen as 'the norm' for new members," Lee says. "They won't remember when it would have been unthinkable for major legislation to be hammered out in leadership offices, rather than through conference committee. Nor will they remember a time when 60 votes was not necessary in order to legislate on any controversial matter."

Despite the changes, the Senate - which gets its name from the Latin word for old man - is hardly experiencing a youthquake. The average age of its members at the beginning of this Congress was 63.1 years, the highest ever. Leading the silver-haired caucus: 92-year-old Robert Byrd, the longest-serving lawmaker in the nation's history. The West Virginia Democrat arrived in Washington as a House member in 1953 and entered the Senate in 1959.

Contributing: Paul Overberg and Brad Heath

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... nate_N.htm