This
year has seen more people voluntarily quitting the senate before their term
runs out than any other year in recent memory.
For years people have said that being a Senator is the best job in
America. But it is obviously not the
case as a whole bunch of people are leaving before their term ends.
Barack
Obama and Joe Biden left the Senate this year.
But they, at least, had a really good excuse. They became President and Vice President –
definitely a promotion. Hilary Clinton,
too, left the Senate to become Secretary of State … also a promotion. But a bunch of people left the Senate for
lateral moves.
Ken Salazar
left to run the Department of the Interior.
No slight to the Interior, but it doesn’t seem as impressive as the being
the senior Senator from Colorado – especially one that has only had the job for
four years. And Judd Gregg from New
Hampshire tried to leave the Senate to become Secretary of Commerce before
having a dispute about the census.
And now
there’s Mel Martinez from Florida. He’s
just leaving after four years for no stated reason.
