Lugar: 13,000 Votes and a Few More to Go

Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar may be in his final year of representing our state in Washington, but his place in history earned another footnote last week when he cast vote number 13,000.

Congratulations and thank you — words that will be repeated often between now and the end of the year. A few facts regarding the latest milestone:

Lugar is in 10th place on the all-time Senate voting list, having passed earlier this year former senator and current Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) who cast 12,959 votes.
 
Lugar has maintained a better than 98 percent attendance record during his more than 35 years of Senate service.
 
There have been 1,931 individuals to serve in the United States Senate since it was convened on March 4, 1789. On January 3, 1977, Lugar was the 1,705th Senator sworn into the Senate.
 
On May 1, 1996, Lugar became the longest-serving senator from Indiana when he surpassed Daniel Wolsey Vorhees (1877-1897).
 
Active Senators who have cast more than 13,000 votes include Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who cast his 14,000th vote at the same time as Lugar’s milestone.  

Lugar has served with all the senators on the all-time top 10 list:
 
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) 1959-2010                  18,689
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) 1955-2002                16,348
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) 1963-present              16,265
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 1963-2009          15,236
Ted Stevens (R-AK) 1969-2008                       15,033
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 1967-2004                   14,194
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) 1975-present              14,000
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) 1973-2008                13,666
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) 1961-1996                       13,214
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) 1977-present              13,000