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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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 Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:48 pm America's 10 Best Senators... and 5 worst |
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| Quote: | America's 10 Best Senators
Those who make a difference in the U.S. Senate � and five Senators who are falling short
By MASSIMO CALABRESI AND PERRY BACON JR.
By law, just about anyone can be a U.S. Senator. The Constitution requires only that you have reached your 30th birthday, reside in the state you represent and have held American citizenship for nine years. But if the framers made qualifying for the job easy, they made excelling at it difficult. James Madison called the Senate a "fence" against the "fickleness and passion" of public opinion, and the rules of the place ensure that it is as cumbersome and restrictive as that sounds. Any of the 100 members can try to change, or completely hijack, another member's bill as it comes up for a vote. And any one of them can bring the place to a halt with a filibuster. Mastering a powerful institution that relies on comity but requires confrontation takes a special kind of talent.
Or talents. There is no fixed journey to greatness in the Senate. Instead there is a whole variety of skills that America's Senators have developed over 218 years to help them raise and spend tax dollars, oversee the operation of government and, in the case of the best among them, pass laws that benefit their constituents, their country and the world. Time spoke to dozens of academics, political scientists and current and former Senators to pick the 10 best of the 109th Congress. One made it because he puts unsexy but important issues on the national agenda, another because his backroom negotiating turns conflict into consensus. A third got on the list for his diligent bird-dogging of Enron, Homeland Security and the Pentagon. Then there's the prodigious across-the-aisle dealer, the fierce defender of her constituents and the expert who sees around corners. As with any all-star team, we sought a broad range of gifts rather than settling on 10 great pitchers or middle linebackers.
They say the Senate is the world's most exclusive club. But the real elite is made up not of those who break in but of those who make a difference once they get there. Here are 10 who do.
America's Best Senators - Click to see why
Those who do, and don't, make a difference in the U.S. Senate
The Best Senators
* Thad Cochran - R
* Kent Conrad - D
* Dick Durbin - D
* Ted Kennedy - D
* Jon Kyl - R
* Carl Levin - D
* Richard Lugar - R
* John McCain - R
* Olympia J. Snowe - R
* Arlen Specter - R
The Worst Senators
* Daniel Akaka - D
* Wayne Allard - R
* Jim Bunning - R
* Conrad Burns - R
* Mark Dayton - D |
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TrekkieMage
Office Junkie
Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 5335
Location: Hiding
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| Sun Apr 16, 2006 6:00 pm |
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Interesting. I wonder how they are choosing them. I find it refreshing that those chosen were not overwhelmingly from a single party. And do you have a link for the source?
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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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| Sun Apr 16, 2006 6:24 pm |
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From Time Magazine, click on the links to see what they say about that senator and why they are there
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TrekkieMage
Office Junkie
Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 5335
Location: Hiding
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| Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:10 pm |
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I looked at them, but it wasn't immediatly obvious to me 
I'm probably going to share it with my government teacher on Tuesday.
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