Sen. Byrd leads 'senior' Democrats

[cal04]

Forget all that talk about 40 being the new 30. Democratic members of Congress seem intent on demonstrating that 80 is the new 70 — or perhaps even 60.

The senior Democrats ready to take power when the new Congress comes to order in January are nothing if not, well, senior.

Eighty-nine-year-old Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the once and future head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been in office longer than the life span of eight of his fellow senators.

Eighty-year-old Michigan Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, first began hanging around Capitol Hill in the 1930s, when he worked as a House page. He recently had hip surgery — not because his hip wore out, but because his replacement hip needed a tuneup after more than 20 years in use.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061223/ap_on_go_co/geriatric_democrats_1