Sen. Robert Byrd Laid to Rest

Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress, was laid to rest in Arlington, Va., Tuesday. Byrd, who was the president pro tempore of the Senate, was buried in a private cemetery beside his wife, Erma Byrd, who died in 2006. A small memorial service for the senator's friends, family, and former staff members proceeded the burial and featured a bluegrass banjo player.

Byrd's burial followed a string of remembrances and ceremonies held in his honor following his death last week at age 92. A memorial service in West Virginia was attended by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and numerous local and national leaders. Byrd was afforded the rare privilege of being laid in repose on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the Capitol, rather than the traditional location beneath the building's rotunda.

The tributes reflected Byrd's lengthy and prodigious congressional career, which spanned 12 presidencies, numerous wars, countless political movements, and nearly the full arc of the civil rights movement. Once a staunch segregationist and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Byrd endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 and praised his fellow Democrat as a "good Christian."

In addition to serving the most years in Congress -- 57 -- Byrd also cast the most votes of any U.S. senator -- more than 18,500. He also held the records for being elected to the most full terms, nine; of being the longest-serving member on any Senate committee; and of holding the most Senate leadership positions, including Senate majority leader (twice) and Senate minority leader.

With the official mourning for the senator now complete, the battle over how Byrd will be replaced in the Senate has moved to the surface. The Parkersburg, W.V., News and Sentinel reported Tuesday that local Democratic leaders, including the new leader of the West Virginia Democratic Party, are encouraging the state's governor, Joe Manchin, to appoint himself to fill Byrd's seat until 2012, when an election will fill the next six-year term.

But West Virginia's Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said last week she wants the legislature to use an upcoming special session to change the current state law, which gives Manchin the right to name Byrd's replacement. Tennant wants a 2010 election to decide the place holder until 2012.

The New York Times points out that Manchin should think hard before naming himself to the Byrd seat, since history suggests his chances of keeping the job in 2012 are slim at best. Of the nine governors who have appointed themselves to the Senate since the 1930s, only one was re-elected to a full term.

A less direct, but more recent, comparison in Alaska holds a better message for a possible Manchin Senate candidacy. After Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter, Lisa, to fill the Senate seat he vacated to become governor in 2002, the new Sen. Murkowski (Lisa) went on to win a full term in 2004 and become a respected member of the Senate Republican leadership.