Why it’s hard to quit (but it can be done)
By Carl Hulse | The New York Times
Voluntarily relinquishing the power, prestige and privilege of the United States Senate is not easy.
Just ask Senator Orrin G. Hatch, 83, the very senior Republican from Utah whose office pushed back aggressively at recent suggestions that he might not seek an eighth term next year. Or Senator Dianne Feinstein, 84, the California Democrat who announced in October that she was running for a fifth full term. It may be that no one will ever best Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina Republican who stuck around until he passed 100. Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat, died in office after 51 years at age 92.
Mr. Hatch could well decide to walk away. But he and others who might be worried that retirement means slipping into powerless obscurity should take heart — there evidently is a rewarding existence waiting outside the Senate chamber. At least there is according to Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who decided against seeking a sixth term in 2014. Mr. Harkin, who just turned 78, is watching with some amazement as former colleagues hang on.
