Robert Byrd runs for re-election at 88; his GOP opponent serves only to solidify the Senator's base

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN/AP: Age doesn't faze 'Big Daddy' Byrd in Senate race
October 30, 2006


Sen. Robert C. Byrd has steered more than $2.2 billion in federal money to West Virginia in the last decade.

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- Leaning on two canes, Sen. Robert C. Byrd hardly looks like a billion-dollar industry -- or "Big Daddy," as the 88-year-old Democrat calls himself.

No matter: Voters once again are looking beyond Byrd's age to his political guile -- and the truckloads of federal dollars he's steered to West Virginia -- as they consider whether to give him a record ninth term in the Senate....

***

Democrats and Republicans alike see the powerful member of the Senate Appropriations Committee as the state's Santa Claus. And they shrug off any suggestion that Byrd's age is a handicap: Byrd's longevity puts him in line to become committee chairman if Democrats win control of the Senate....

John Raese, the Republican challenging Byrd, recently made an issue of the senator's age. Raese, a 56-year-old Morgantown media owner and heir to an industrial fortune, said he wouldn't hire the senator because of his physical appearance....

***

But Robert Rupp, a political science professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College, said Raese largely has served to solidify Byrd's base....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/30/senate.byrd.ap/index.html

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. No, he's too friggin' old, no matter how useful he is!

What, are you living under some sort of Soviet or Communist Chinese gerontocracy? Reagan was bad enough...

[SharonAnn]

2. Why has no younger Democrat been groomed for this? Not even one?

For heaven's sake, we should have a pipeline of people being brought through electoral offices so that there are qualified candidates for ste-wide positions.

I love Robert Byrd, but he should be retiring, not signing up for another 6 year term. I'm sure he loves it, but it's time to let the younger generation take over. No one is irreplaceable. No one. And if we think so, then shame on us. We may get our clock cleaned by some hungry GOP candidate who has been groomed for a state-wide position, like this one.

[hughee99]

5. I agree with you on this.

IMHO, a wise course of action would have been to groom a successor before now, and have Byrd actively campaign for him during his first run in this election. While Byrd could spend the next few years doing that, I'm not sure how much he'll be able to "actively campaign" for him in 2012. In a state that has been, to some degree, leaning repuke (Bush carried it in both 2000 and 2004), the repukes could see this as an opportunity to pick up a seat if Byrd is unable to help out the Democrat.

[Infinite Hope]

8. The Democratic Governor may be one candidate... n/t

[Bodineian]

3. What Happened To Equating Age With Wisdom ?

Senator Byrd is the best asset WVa ever had and he will win on Nov 7.
Senator Byrd is the Soul of the Senate and do not forget that he was against the war from the start.
This American insanity manifested in the worship of perpetual youth is sickening. Good for the plastic surgery industry but more plastic is hardly the answer to a plastic society that wants to place the elderly in nursing homes.

[Le Taz Hot]

6. Oh, please.

The guy is NOT Adella Rodgers St. Johns for cripes sake! If his mind were sharp I'd say go for it. But it's not and this is just sad. He's hanging on to power for power's sake.

[NJ Democrats]

4. Soon enough he'll be President Pro Tem-again

Hopefully.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. Robert Byrd is so old

he cast his first vote for Adam.