Elderly lawmakers are nothing new in Washington. Strom Thurmond didn’t retire until he was 100; Robert Byrd was still in office when he died at 92. By those standards, Dianne Feinstein, who will turn 90 this month, is practically a youngster. But after her return to the Senate this spring following illness, questions about her ability to serve began to grow more frequent. On episode 69 of The Politics of Everything, co-hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene discuss Feinstein’s storied career—and the long-standing reluctance among senators to develop plans for succession within an institution that rewards seniority above almost all else.
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