Old, Old Senate Update

There are plenty of interesting things about today's major bombshell of Jim DeMint resigning his Senate seat to run Heritage. It ties in a bit with what I was talking about yesterday...well, it's just a very interesting development. He's been an important Senator, and so this choice is fascinating.

But while I'm thinking about what to say about all that, I'll pause first for one of my favorite obsessions: the aging of the Senate.

Yup, this is probably a good one. DeMint is 61, born in September 1951.

The Hotline's Reid Wilson has already compiled a list of possible replacements (South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will name someone, then there will be a special election in fall 2014 to fill out the remainder of DeMint's term, followed by a regular election in 2016). But according to what I see in my twitter feed, the early frontrunner is Member of the House Tim Scott, who would be only African American in the Senate if appointed. And Scott was born in September 1965; he's 14 years younger than DeMint.

Of course, it wouldn't be shocking at all if the early speculation winds up totally off base, for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that Haley appears to be a pretty independent customer at times and it wouldn't be shocking if she comes up with an unanticipated selection. Either way, it's presumably more likely that it'll be someone under 60 than someone significantly older than DeMint.

I will say one other quick thing now. I saw a few comments about how DeMint had already term limited himself and was planning to leave (granted, in 2016) anyway. Well....yes. But those early announcements have a way of disappearing once election season rolls around. Obviously, this one won't! But everyone who wasn't actually inside DeMint's brain, and perhaps even the guy who was, didn't know that for sure until now.