Back in the olden days, Billboard released a “Bubbling Under” chart, listing the hottest songs in the country that fell directly below its more famous “Hot 100” list. In effect, they were the 101st through the 200th best-selling singles on the charts, and a useful indicator of who was up and coming. I thought I would apply this to my All-Star Senate project from earlier in the year- listing 100 additional senators who deserved some kind of honorable mention, but were not, in my estimation, among the two greatest their state had produced.
I made a couple of changes, though. I did away with the two-per-state restriction, since many of the best guys left off the All-Stars were left off because their state produced too many good senators. Massachusetts, Texas, New York, South Carolina and Minnesota all fall under this category. That also means that some states only have one, or in some cases zero, mentions here. Florida, Hawaii, West Virginia, Arkansas, Idaho all fell below the average of two per state. All of the standard All-Star caveats apply: inclusion on this list does not necessarily denote my admiration, exclusion does not necessarily denote my contempt. I based these rankings on the senator’s achievements while serving that office– therefore senators who achieved great distinction, but not in their capacity as legislators, were not included- such as Andrew Jackson, John Foster Dulles, Salmon Chase, and so on.
So, here is the Bubbling Under list for the All-Star Senate:
- Eugene Hale (Maine, Republican, 1881-1911)
- Ed Muskie (Maine, Democrat, 1959-1980)
- Olympia Snowe (Maine, Republican, 1995-present)
- Robert Stafford (Vermont, Republican, 1971-1989)
- Bernie Sanders (Vermont, Independent/Democratic Socialist, 2007-present)
- John Hale (New Hampshire, Free Soil, 1847-1853)
- Charles Toby (New Hampshire, Republican, 1939-1951)
- Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island, Republican, 1999-2007)
- Charles Sumner (Massachusetts, Republican, 1851-1874)
- Henry Dawes (Massachusetts, Republican, 1875-1893)
- George Frisbee Hoar (Massachusetts, Republican, 1877-1904)
- Henry Cabot Lodge (Massachusetts, Republican, 1893-1924)
- David I. Walsh (Massachusetts, Democrat, 1919-1925, 1926-1946)
- Edward Brooke (Massachusetts, Republican, 1967-1979)
- Prescott Bush (Connecticut, Republican, 1952-1963)
- Abraham Ribicoff (Connecticut, Democrat, 1963-1981)
- Christopher Dodd (Connecticut, Democrat, 1981-2011)
- William Seward (New York, Whig/Republican, 1849-1861)
- Chauncey Depew (New York, Republican, 1899-1911)
- Jacob Javits (New York, Republican, 1957-1981)
- Charles Schumer (New York, Democrat, 1999-present)
- William Maclay (Pennsylvania, Anti-Administration, 1789-1791)
- James Buchanan (Pennsylvania, Democrat, 1834-1845)
- Boies Penrose (Pennsylvania, Republican, 1897-1921)
- Millard Tydings (Maryland, Democrat, 1927-1951)
- Barbara Mikulski (Maryland, Democrat, 1987-present)
- William V. Roth (Delaware, Republican, 1971-2001)
- John Tyler (Virginia, Anti-Jacksonian, 1827-1836)
- Harry Byrd (Virginia, Democrat, 1933-1965)
- John Warner (Virginia, Republican, 1979-2009)
- Harley Kilgore (West Virginia, Democrat, 1941-1956)
- Zebulon Vance (North Carolina, Democrat, 1879-1894)
- Jesse Helms (North Carolina, Republican, 1973-2003)
- Robert Hayne (South Carolina, Democrat, 1823-1832)
- Andrew Butler (South Carolina, Democrat, 1846-1857)
- Benjamin Tillman (South Carolina, Democrat, 1895-1918)
- James Byrnes (South Carolina, Democrat, 1931-1941)
- Robert Tombs (Georgia, Democrat, 1853-1861)
- Herman Talmadge (Georgia, Democrat, 1957-1981)
- William Rufus King (Alabama, Democrat, 1819-1844)
- Hugo Black (Alabama, Democrat, 1927-1937)
- Henry Foote (Mississippi, Democrat, 1847-1852)
- Trent Lott (Mississippi, Republican, 1989-2007)
- John Sherman (Ohio, Republican, 1861-1877)
- George Pendleton (Ohio, Democrat, 1879-1885)
- Joseph Foraker (Ohio, Republican, 1897-1909)
- John J. Crittenden (Kentucky, four different terms, three different parties, spanning 1817 and 1861)
- Alban Barkley (Kentucky, Democrat, 1927-1949, 1955-56)
- Hugh White (Tennessee, Democrat/Whig, 1825-1840)
- Kenneth McKellar (Tennessee, Democrat, 1917-1953)
- Estes Kefauver (Tennessee, Democrat, 1949-1963)
- David Atchison (Missouri, Democrat, 1843-1855)
- Carl Shurz (Missouri, Republican/Liberal Republican, 1869-1875)
- John Danforth (Missouri, Republican, 1976-1995)
- Lewis Cass (Michigan, Democrat, 1845-1848, 1849-1857)
- Zachariah Chandler (Michigan, Republican, 1857-1875, 1879)
- Phil Hart (Michigan, Democrat, 1957-1976)
- Oliver Morton (Indiana, Republican, 1867-1877)
- Vance Hartke (Indiana, Democrat, 1959-1977)
- Richard Lugar (Indiana, Republican, 1976-2012, presumably)
- Lyman Trumbull (Illinois, Democrat/Republican/Liberal Republican, 1855-1873)
- Paul Douglas (Illinois, Democrat, 1949-1967)
- Charles Percy (Illinois, Republican, 1967-1985)
- Robert LaFollette Jr. (Wisconsin, Republican/Progressive, 1925-1947)
- Gaylord Nelson (Wisconsin, Democrat, 1963-1981)
- William Proxmire (Wisconsin, Democrat, 1957-1989)
- William Windom (Minnesota, Republican, 1870-71, 1871-81, 1881-83)
- Henrik Shipstead (Minnesota, Farmer/Labor, Republican, 1923-1947)
- Eugene McCarthy (Minnesota, Democrat, 1959-1971)
- Paul Wellstone (Minnesota, Democrat, 1991-2003)
- Bourke Hickenlooper (Iowa, Republican, 1945-1969)
- Tom Harkin (Iowa, Democrat, 1985-present)
- Milton Young (North Dakota, Republican, 1945-1981)
- Byron Dorgan (North Dakota, Democrat, 1993-present)
- Tom Daschle (South Dakota, Democrat, 1987-2005)
- Gilbert Hitchcock (Nebraska, Democrat, 1911-1923)
- Kenneth Wherry (Nebraska, Republican, 1943-1951)
- Edmund Ross (Kansas, Republican, 1866-1871)
- John J. Ingalls (Kansas, Republican, 1873-1891)
- Nancy Kassebaum (Kansas, Republican, 1978-1997)
- Glen Taylor (Idaho, Democrat, 1945-1951)
- Lester Hunt (Wyoming, Democrat, 1949-1954)
- Alan Simpson (Wyoming, Republican, 1979-1997)
- James Murray (Montana, Democrat, 1934-1961)
- Sam Houston (Texas, Independent, 1846-1859)
- Tom Connally (Texas, Democrat, 1929-1953)
- Ralph Yarborough (Texas, Democrat, 1959-1971)
- John Tower (Texas, Republican, 1961-1985)
- Phil Gram (Texas, Republican, 1985-2002)
- Robert Owen (Oklahoma, Democrat 1907-1925)
- Fred Harris (Oklahoma, Democrat, 1964-1973)
- Key Pittman (Nevada, Democrat, 1913-1940)
- Harry Reid (Nevada, Democrat, 1987-present)
- Clinton Anderson (New Mexico, Democrat, 1949-1973)
- Ernest McFarlane (Arizona. Democrat, 1941-1953)
- John McCain (Arizona, Republican, 1986-present)
- William Knowland (California, Republican, 1945-1959)
- Charles McNary (Oregon, Republican, 1918, 1919-1944)
- Miles Poindexter (Washington, Republican, 1911-1923)
- Ernest Gruening (Alaska, Democrat, 1959-1969)
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