Poll: Best Senator ever

[urbanguerrilla]

Charles Sumner
Robert LaFollette
Harry Truman
Estes Kefauver
Ted Kennedy
Joseph McCarthy
Lyndon Johnson
Russ Feingold
Paul Wellstone
Frank Church
Theodore Bilbo
Hubert Humphrey
George McGovern

others?

[intheflow]

1. You forgot Kerry. n/t

[imenja]

24. Kerry doesn't make the cut

not as a senator. By the way, what does n/t mean?

[Celeborn Skywalker]

26. no text. n/t

[Hatalles]

28. n/t = no text

[intheflow]

32. He was my senator in Mass almost my whole adult life.

Always did well by me.

[LittleClarkie]

34. It the guy who took down BCCI and broke Iran/Contra doesn't make the cut

then you have the bar set too damn high.

Once again, I nominate Kerry.

[Hello_Kitty]

40. I second it. n/t

[imenja]

56. Question about the campaign

I hear you. Those are important accomplishments. I guess it depends on how many are on the list.
It's interesting though, how he never discussed those contributions during the campaign. The Republicans went on and on about his lackluster senate career. Do you think he and his handlers decided those Iran Contra and BCCI wouldn't play well in the campaign? I would think the BCCI thing would have worked well with the corporate corruption so rampant today.

[LittleClarkie]

65. Shrum thought it would be too complex for the voters to get

Shrum is a shmuck.

[Liberaltarian]

59. anyone who voted for Ashcroft, NCLB and Bush's Iraq Folly don't qualify

sorry.

[LittleClarkie]

68. You set your criteria, darling

We'll set ours.

So there.

:P

[imenja]

2. William Fulbright

[rwenos]

18. Easy to Forget the "Golden Fleece" Award

And didn't he vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution? (Or was Wayne Morse the only "no" vote?)

[imenja]

27. Fulbright voted for it

but later regretted it. He did many other good things while in the Senate, including speaking out against Joe McCarthy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._William_Fulbright

[Art_from_Ark]

43. He also wrote "The Arrogance of Power"

which should be required reading for all Senators, Congressmen, and chimp handlers

[Zuni]

49. Fulbright was one of the best Senators of his time, but he did vote agains

the civil rights act----even though he personally was for Civil Rights, he knew he could never be re-elected if he voted for it in Arkansas.
He chickened out, but he came through on a number of very important issues, mainly Vietnam

[Art_from_Ark]

51. The ironic thing is, that Fulbright wasn't up for re-election until '68

And two years after the Civil Rights anti-vote, Arkansas elected a *gasp* liberal Republican as governor over the man who had made Little Rock synonymous with redneck racists-- Orville Faubus.

But then again, in '68 Arkansas "proudly" wasted its 6 electoral votes on George Wallace

[Art_from_Ark]

44. "Golden Fleece" was William Proxmire's baby

[Kire]

3. what about John F. Kennedy?

[urbanguerrilla]

7. it was more of a stepping stone for him

than an actual job.

[rwenos]

9. John Kennedy

did not have a stellar record in the Senate. Ted's is far greater, built over 40 years, enduring.

[imenja]

4. don't you mean Eugene McCarthy?

Joe was the redbaiter. Ann Coulter's hero.

[urbanguerrilla]

11. I forgot to list him

I did put Tailgunner Joe and Ted Bilbo in there as oddball choices though.

[rwenos]

5. I would add

Hiram Johnson (R-Calif.), Everett Dirkson (R-Ill.), Robert Kennedy (D-NY), and Thomas Hart Benton (R-Ohio, I think). Oddly, only one was Dem, but all left their mark on our Republic. Johnson for sure would be a Democrat now.

[cavanaghjam]

8. Hell

they'd all be commie pinko lefties now.

[rwenos]

14. Pinko's Yes, Because Not RW Born Agains

Funny how skewed our current politics look, by historical standards, eh?

[cavanaghjam]

6. Wellstone didn't have much of a chance

to show the effect he could have had, not compared to the others. My vote still goes to him. RIP

[RamboLiberal]

10. Paul Wellstone

I don't think you could find a more caring honest man let alone as a politician.

As usual the good die young and before their mission is fulfilled while the old crap like Helms and Thurmond hang on forever.

[Spider Jerusalem]

12. You forgot Henry Clay.

And Daniel Webster. And John C. Calhoun. And Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And a lot of others.

[imenja]

16. Calhoun? Best historical hairdo

Influential and important, yes. But great? Do you really think so?
I have never been a big fan of slavery.
Calhoun does get my vote for best historical hairdo though.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. One does not need to be a GOOD man to be a GREAT man...

Great meaning, precisely, influential and important. But then I look at the question as a historian, not as a partisan.

[imenja]

21. Ok

point taken. Would you include James Henry Hammond?

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Not Hammond, no.

And Calhoun I only include because of his importance as the most prominent and historically important face on the Southern side of the events leading up to the Civil War, and because his work with Clay and Webster in the Senate helped bring about the so-called "Jacksonian revolution" in the American government.

[Zuni]

47. Excellent choices. Webster is right up there

One of the most important senators of the 19th Century

[imenja]

13. dare I mention John McCain?

I know I'll be stoned for this suggestion, but he's a good man. I disagree with him on many issues, but he's a good man. Still can't figure out why he endorsed Bush. I think they bought him off with a promise of the Rep nomination in 2008, but they won't follow through.
Please don't revoke my DU card.

[dw]

15. Wayne Morse

We need his likes in this Congress. Badly.

[malmapus]

17. Max Clevland

Will always have a personal bias with me since I grew up in Georgia :-)

[malmapus]

35. Heck Sam Nunn too

..

[urbanguerrilla]

19. My choice BTW is Kefauver

His undying support for civil rights while a Southern Senator and his Crime Commision take the cake. He could have beat Ike, if not the first time, definitely the second time around.

[angrydemocrat]

22. Both JFK'S

John F. Kennedey and John F. Kerry

[yellowdogintexas]

23. from this list: three way tie

Estes Kefauver, Ted Kennedy or Frank Church

Lyndon was a good senator also.
Oh hell so was Albert Gore Sr.

[fujiyama]

25. I have my differences with him

especially on gay rights, but you can't forget Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. After all, he's been in the senate for how long now? I loved his speech before the war.

Hmmm, I also like my senator - Carl Levin. He's great.

[imenja]

30. I love the way he wears his glasses

I get a kick out of watching him. He's also a good senator, as is Joe Biden.

[LittleClarkie]

36. He's the only one who answered my "Majority Leader" email

it was a stock answer, but it was an answer. I appreciated that.

Yea, Levins!

[Lenape85]

31. What about Robert Wagner (D-NY)

[Liberty Belle]

33. Claud Pepper, who championed seniors' causes?

[Zuni]

46. Old 'Red' Pepper

interesting guy

[ornotna]

74. Also a big supporter of

Universal Health Care and Civil Rights. We Need more like him.

[flygal]

37. Mike Mansfield ~

[Zuni]

48. Good call

Nobody remembers Nixon's nemesis anymore

[ever_green]

38. Russ Feingold

He's awesome.

[rfkrfk]

39. Robert Kennedy

RFK

[newyawker99]

55. Hi rfkrfk!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[theHandpuppet]

41. Lyndon Baines Johnson

Without a doubt.

[Zuni]

50. No one could pass legislation like LBJ

No doubt one of the most effective power brokers and back room deal makers in Senate history.

[attaturk]

42. Not that they were all Lovable

But there are some missing folks from the 19th Century...

The so-called "Great Triumverate"

Henry Clay
Daniel Webster
John C. Calhoun

The latter of which may have been a slavery defender, but one cannot doubt two things, his influence or his intellect, misguided obviously on some things, but downright brilliant in others. Richard Hofstader noted that Calhoun predated Marx in recognizing the relationship between class and progress in World History.

Clay was the most influential Senator of the pre-civil war era, dominating for two generations, and Webster was the great orator, making probably the Senate's most famous speach in his reply to Hayne (really to Calhoun of whom Hayne was a protege).

Of your list, I hope Bilbo is a joke, he is a strong contender for WORST Senator ever.

[stevedeshazer]

45. Huey Long n/t

[Mira]

52. Right about now I'm very enamored with Senator Byrd n/t

[noonwitch]

53. How about Barry Goldwater? My real vote goes for Carl Levin

But I always respected Barry Goldwater, even when I disagreed with him. He was a character.

[indepat]

54. Kefauver is already on the list, so may I offer Barry Goldwater,

a conservative often wrong-headed, but a man of principle unseen on his side of the aisle today, IMHO?

[Liberaltarian]

57. two from Illinois- Paul Simon and Abraham Lincoln

nt

[elcondor]

62. Lincoln was never a senator

FYI

[Freddie Stubbs]

63. Lincoln never served in the Senate

He did serve on term, however, in the House.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

58. Paul Wellstone

He was everything that was good about humanity.
Gone far, far too soon.

But I have to say that Hubert Humphery and George McGovern were quite excellent, too.

[graywarrior]

60. Ted K

Paul Wellstone
and I have to add Kerry, as I watched him in action in Mass

[Starlight]

70. Wellstone. No contest. n/t

[mark414]

61. Fightin' Bob LaFollette of course

though I'm biased as a Wisconsinite

I'd also definitely put Paul Simon in there...and hopefully 50 years from now another Illinois Senator will be prominent in a list of great Senators...one Sen. Obama of course...

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

64. my senator bob byrd

sure, he's terrible on so many issues, but his lone work in leading the scant band of senators against bush and his war in late 2002 more than makes up for it

years from now, this will be looked on as his real legacy

[mac56]

66. mine

Ever:
Robert Taft
Robert LaFollette
John Calhoun
Daniel Webster
Henry Clay

In my lifetime:
Paul Wellstone
Robert Kennedy
Eugene McCarthy

[seanmac45]

67. .

.

[Syd_]

69. If being a statesman

rather than a politician would be a measure of a senator. . . What about Robert C. Byrd?

[KlatooBNikto]

71. Senator Sam Ervin and Senator Howard Baker.

[Yupster]

72. My nominees

Fighting Bob LaFollette - for bringing a better era to America, the Progressive Era.

Henry Clay - for doing all he could to keep the country together as long as possible.

John Crittenden - who took Clay's seat. Crittenden went further than anyone else in trying to avert the Civil War. After South Carolina seceeded, he convened a committee of all the great senators of the age. Seward of New York was the Republican leader, but more impressive was that Crittenden convinced the best known senators of the deep south to meet too. There was Davis of Mississippi, Toombs of Georgia and Benjamin of Louisiana. The committee met through Christmas and came up with compromise proposals to keep the south in the union. President-elect Lincoln would not support the effort or even give Seward advice on what he would support so the effort failed by vote of the House in January 1861, and the Senate in March. The committee broke up, and the Civil War soon began. Crittenden did not survive the war.

An honorable mention to Stephen Douglas - though a rival of Lincoln's who beat him for senate but lost to him for president, still did great service for him. When Douglas decided he would not beat Lincoln for president, he began campaigning in the border states to plead with them to stay in the union. He also took a Georgia senator as his VP nominee. When Lincoln did win, Douglas toured the non-seceeded slave-states tirelessly speaking against secession. His health broke and he was dead within a year. Douglas' unifying efforts are in stark contrast to Lincoln who campaigned only in the north, took another northerner as his VP candidate and wouldn't support any compromise efforts.

Those are my quick nominees for services rendered to their country.

[President Kerry]

73. Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Max Cleland, Paul Wellstone n/t