US Senate Still Booming

It was another big year for turnover in the US Senate, with 12 members being replaced. But, lest you think we're finally getting the Baby Boomer generation to relinquish its power, and seeing Generation-X take its place, sorry but no.

In fact, Boomers made a net gain in the Senate.

Only four of the 12 departing Senators are Boomers -- Scott Brown of Massachusetts (born 1959), Kent Conrad of North Dakota ('48), Olympia Snowe of Maine ('47), and Jim Webb of Virginia ('46). The other eight are pre-Boomers -- and they get one back, in Maine's Angus King ('44).

Coming in are at least six Boomers: Joe Donnelly of Indiana ('55), Mazie Hirono of Hawaii ('47), Deb Fischer of Nebraska ('51), Heidi Hentkamp of North Dakota ('55), Tim Kaine of Virginia ('58), and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts ('49). Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeff Flake of Arizona, both born in 1962, are on the latter cusp of the Boomers.

So, just three Gen-Xers made it into the Senate: Ted Cruz of Texas, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut ('73).

They join four other Xers: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire ('68),  Kristin Gillibrand of New York ('66), Mike Lee of Utah ('71), and Marco Rubio of Florida ('71).

The next Senate will have seven Gen-Xers, 62 Boomers (44 of them in the core 1946-'56 birth range) and 31 pre-Boomers.

Looked at another way: when Barack Obama is sworn in on January 21, 2013, only 10 of the 100 US Senators will be younger than 50.