Byrd’s record-setting tenure is saluted

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is a resolutely superlative place, so it was resolved that the august body will open its session today by saluting Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Congress’ longest-serving member.

“United States senators, like baseball fans, love statistics,” the West Virginia Democrat, who turns 92 on Friday, observed during a 1986 floor speech.

Here are some of Byrd’s statistics: He was already married to his beloved Erma for nearly four years when Thanksgiving was deemed a federal holiday in 1941.

He began his political career four years later as a member of West Virginia’s House of Delegates. He remains the only member of Congress to earn a law degree while a member of the federal legislature, according to his Web site.

Erma passed away three years ago. Byrd says her absence at this milestone is his only regret.