Some Lawmakers Will Be Missed on Hill

Various 2006 file photos of Senators leaving the Senate. Top row, from left are, Lincoln Chafee, Conrad Burns, and Mark Dayton. Bottom row, from left are, George Allen, Bill Frist and Rick Santorum. (AP Photo/Files) (AP)

WASHINGTON -- It's just not going to be the same. When the new Congress convenes next month, a few high achievers and a few lawmakers known more for being characters than for their legislative skills won't be around.

Some left by choice, others rejected by voters in what President Bush called a Democratic "thumping" of his fellow Republicans in November. A few _ such as Florida's Katherine Harris, former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne _ reached for the brass ring of higher office and fell short.

A couple of those most prominent among the missing are Democrats, but most are Republicans.

Whether cherished for their political skills or their entertainment value, they leave a vacuum.

Among them:

_Sen. Bill Frist, the heart transplant surgeon and heir to a hospital fortune who switched to a political career in mid-life and _ in his typical overachiever fashion _ became the Senate's majority leader just eight years later.

Courting religious conservatives for a presidential bid in 2008, he tripped while dealing with the case of severely brain-damaged Terry Schiavo, misdiagnosing her condition using a video tape. Last month he abandoned the race for the White House, deciding to return to Tennessee.

_Rep. Katherine Harris, the former Florida secretary of state who was instrumental in delivering Florida's contested electoral votes and the White House to President Bush in 2000. She coveted Democrat Bill Nelson's seat in the Senate to the consternation of state and national Republican leaders, who couldn't find anyone to challenge her in the primary. Her campaign staffers quit in droves in response to her temper tantrums and she took to the airwaves to say non-Christian officials would "legislate sin." She lost to Nelson, but said we haven't seen the last of her _ she's promised a tell-all book on her doomed campaign.

_Sen. George Allen of Virginia, who lost to Republican-turned Democratic challenger Jim Webb by a fraction of a percentage point. The son of a former Washington Redskins coach, Allen favored cowboy hats and boots and chewing tobacco. He also was on the way to a presidential bid in 2008 _ until he described a Webb staffer of Indian descent as "macaca" _ a reference to a type of monkey _ and the video found its way to the press and onto the Internet.

_Sen. Conrad Burns, a former broadcaster who also courted the cowboy image and whose mouth also kept him in trouble. Over the years, Burns has apologized for remarks offensive to blacks, Arabs and firefighters and denied making remarks offensive to women that two flight attendants attributed to him. Burns was a big victim of the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Even though returned or gave away the approximately $150,000 he received from Abramoff, his associates and his clients, Burns still lost to Democrat Jon Tester by fewer than 3,000 votes.

_Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, R-Ga., who earlier this month introduced a bill on the last day of the 109th Congress to impeach Bush. A liberal firebrand, McKinney relished her reputation as a rebel. She questioned whether Bush knew in advance about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but kept quiet to allow defense contractors to profit and accused former Vice President Al Gore of having a "low Negro tolerance level." Last March, McKinney entered a Capitol office building unrecognized and refused a police officer's request to stop. When he tried to stop her, she struck him. She apologized, but lost her seat anyway to a Democratic primary challenger.

_Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, another Republican who at one time had his eyes on the White House. His opposition to abortion and gay marriage _ plus his youthful looks and tireless energy _ made him a poster child for conservatives. He penned a 2005 book, "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and Common Good," to counter Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's "It Takes a Village." But his sometimes abrasive style alienated voters in Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania, and they replaced him with an anti-abortion Democrat, Bill Casey.