"There, for a final time at his Senate desk, stood Ted Stevens: longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, shepherd of Alaska statehood, convicted felon.
"I don't have any rearview mirror," the diminutive -- and much diminished -- figure told colleagues yesterday in his farewell address. "I look only forward. And I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me."
In hours of tributes on the Senate floor, the exact nature of that cloud was never described: the penny-ante corruption, the gifts and free home renovations that brought the career of this legislative legend to an ignominious end. After his conviction last month, Stevens's electoral defeat became official on Tuesday, his 85th birthday.
By the time he finished, even a few of the Democratic lawmakers and staffers were dabbing their eyes.
Few will shed tears for the irritable Stevens himself. Nor are they likely to lament the end of his politics of greedily funneling federal money to his home state. But the scene had poignancy for another reason: As the old men on both sides of the aisle rose to bid adieu to Stevens, they seemed also to be saying farewell to their era, a time when the Senate was, for better or worse, a gentlemen's club."
Get the Story:Washington Sketch: Senior Moment (The Washington Post 11/21) Related Stories:
Sen. Stevens loses re-election after conviction (11/19)
Sen. Stevens now trailing as more votes counted (11/13)
Sen. Stevens holds onto slim lead in close race (11/6)
Sen. Murkowski won't abandon Sen. Stevens (10/31)
Sen. Stevens helped Alaska Native corporations (10/30)
McCain-Palin call on Sen. Stevens to resign (10/29)
Sen. Stevens vows to fight guilty verdict (10/28)
Editorial: Sen. Stevens' arrogance of power (10/22)
Column: Sen. Stevens doesn't own the witness chair (10/21)
Column: Wife of Sen. Stevens takes the fall at trial (10/17)
Sen. Inouye backs Sen. Stevens at trial (10/10)
Sen. Stevens loses bid to dismiss corruption case (10/3)
Column: Sen. Stevens says wife controls 'tepee' (09/26)
Alaska Natives on witness list for Sen. Stevens trial (9/23)
Sen. Stevens wins Alaska Republican primary (8/27)
Sen. Stevens loses motion to move trial to Alaska (8/21)
Sen. Stevens wants coruption trial moved to Alaska (8/5)
Column: Uncle Ted Stevens helped Alaska Natives (8/4)
Sen. Stevens set for quick trial on corruption charges (8/1)
More woes for GOP with Sen. Stevens indictment (7/30)
Sen. Ted Stevens indicted on corruption charges (7/29)