The list of 70 former U.S. senators rebuking the present Senate is impressive for its ideological reach but it makes us yearn for a day when senators cultivated lasting relationship with those of vastly difference view, but a capacity to listen and learn.
It was heartening to see all four living ex-senators from the Northwest—all Republicans—on this list. Dan Evans and Slade Gorton, Bob Packwood and Gordon Smith. Does anyone doubt that Scoop, Maggie and Mark Hatfield would not be there?
The urge to become a senator still lives, but not everyone wants to join the current fracas. Montana probably lost a chance to turn a Republican seat blue when the popular governor, Steve Bullock, declined to run for the Senate. There were others.
