The buzz out of Minnesota is that the Democrats will almost certainly try to replace the late Senator Paul Wellstone with none other than Walter "Fritz" Mondale. Mondale served as a Senator from Minnesota for 12 years, then served four years as Vice President under Jimmy Carter. He later became the Democratic nominee for President in 1984. (He was also the first man for whom I cast a vote for President. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear the news.)
An interesting thing most people don't know is that the Veep also serves as President of the Senate. He technically acts as moderator, and casts the deciding vote when there are ties. If you ever hear snippets of Senators addressing arguments to "Mr. President," now you'll know what's going on. They are not arguing with the President of the United States, they're simply addressing their moderator: the President of the Senate, i.e. the Vice President of the United States.
Anyway, if Mondale should win the election in Minnesota next week (and he probably will), he will be only the third Senator to become Vice President and then later return to the Senate. For 2 million Trivia Geek Points, either of the other men to do that.
1 additional point if you can name the state he was from.
Technically, Andrew Johnson (Lincoln's 2nd VP) did what Mondale may yet do, but Johnson detoured first through the Presidency to achieve it.
After surviving impeachment (and avoiding conviction) he was returned to the Senate by the voters of Tennessee in 1875.
Hubert Horatio Humphrey from Minnesota
Ara gets 2,000,001 geek points for naming Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.
Paul Fallon gets 2,000,001 geek points for naming Hubert Humphrey, who, like Mondale, was also from Minnesota.
However, Ara has also once again nailed the Game Master to the wall. I had forgotten Andrew Johnson, and have had to update the question to note that there were two such individuals and not just one. %-)
On the third hand, Ara makes a mistake: the voters of Tennessee never sent Andrew Johnson to the Senate. In the 1800s, Senators were appointed by the state legislatures of their home states. Direct election of Senators did not occur until the early 20th Century.
Now, for some extra geeky goodness:
Both houses of Congress give certain privileges to people based on seniority. Senators are even known as "The Junior Senator" and "The Senior Senator" respectively from their states. Wellstone was the Senior Senator from Minnesota becuase he'd been there almost 12 years, whereas Rod Grams is known as the Junior Senator from Minnesota because he's only been there about 4 years.
If Mondale is elected, he will automatically become the Senior Senator from Minnesota, because his seniority from the 1960s and 1970s will still count! He will have certain other privs that other newly-elected Senators won't have, too.
But here's my uber-geek question, and I don't know the answer: if the Vice President of the U.S. is the President of the Senate, does his time as Vice President count toward seniority if he returns as a Senator?
This is a surprisingly important question, because seniority gets you all sorts of perques. Mondale would have slightly less status as a Senator with 12 years of seniority (his time as a Senator) than he would with 16 (time as a Senator+4 years as VP).
1 billion points to anyone who can tell me, definitively, whether time as Veep counts toward seniority. %-)
1 billion points and 50 cents gets me a copy of USA Today, right?
Hey man, they're your points. Live it up, spend 'em however you please!
Put 'em on your resume, it'll help in job interviews. Or so I hear.
Okay, you won't believe this, but I'm wrong again.
I found out that seniority in the Senate is based on when you were last sworn in. Mondale will have the seniority of a freshman if elected. Which is pretty weird. However, I have it from a very reliable source. He will also be the Junior Senator from Minnesota.
I have more details for anyone who wants 'em. I got this straight from the Senate historian's office. %-)
Dude, you seriously need to get a life.
:^)
Hubert Humphrey from the People's REpublic of Minnesota served as U. S. Senator after serving as VP and losing to Nixon in 1968.
Dean the junior senator from Minnesota is NOT Rod Grams but Mark Dayton -seriously ck your stuff out before posting
I did check my facts. Sorry if I read an old page.
Funny thing is, when I asked the Senate historian about it, I mentioned Rod Grams as the other Senator and she didn't correct me. ;-)