Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia and the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, died this morning. I will leave it to others to provide the eulogy.
It’s unclear what will happen to his seat. The state’s Democratic governor will appoint an interim Senator, but whether a special election will be held this fall, or in 2012, when Byrd’s term would have expired anyway, rests upon the interpretation of a vaguely worded law.
More here.