Free Republic

As news stories generally go, the retirement of a longtime member of Congress typically causes barely a ripple in the pool of politics. Unless the personage was a major power player or notorious for some other reason, our system of government treats the coming and going of most elected officials with only a modicum of interest. So it is likely to be with Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who, having served seven terms in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate, announced he is retiring at the end of next year. The senator’s record in the overall...

“Now is the time for all good political leaders to come to the aid of their party,” said Don Fowler, who helmed the DNC from 1995 to 1997, during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and has backed Hillary Clinton since her 2008 presidential bid. “I think the plan should be developed by 6 o’clock this afternoon.” ... Fowler noted that at one of his first-ever DNC meetings, in 1972, he supported a decision to nominate Sargent Shriver — a member of the Kennedy clan — to replace Thomas Eagleton as George McGovern’s vice presidential nominee, the only time either major party has...

Retired U.S. Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton -- a towering figure in national and state politics for half a century and the person for whom the federal courthouse downtown is named -- died late Sunday morning. He was 77. He had been ill for several months with various health problems. He died at St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights.