Flirty Thurmond celebrates 99th birthday

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Sen. Strom Thurmond began his 100th year flirting with his female colleagues Wednesday.

“I love all of you men, but you women even more!” he declared by way of a thank-you, after Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., offered congratulations from the well of the chamber.

Those present erupted in laughter as Thurmond’s wife, Nancy, grinned from the gallery. The two have been separated for a decade but have remained on friendly terms.

“I appreciate every one of you, especially you ladies,” he added. “You are good-looking, God bless you.”

Thurmond, the Senate’s oldest and longest-serving member and perhaps its most famous flirt, turned 99 on Wednesday and plans to retire to his home in South Carolina after his eighth term expires in January 2003.

The birthday was a landmark for a man whose declining health has prompted several collapses this year and required him to move into Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Arriving in the morning for the Senate’s first vote of the day, Thurmond left his wheelchair outside the chamber and walked to his front-row seat with help from an aide. There, Thurmond held court as colleagues lined up to congratulate him.

“How you feel?” asked Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark.

“Fine,” Thurmond, R-S.C., replied.

“You look fine,” Hutchinson said with a pat on the arm.

Daschle followed up with his own salute, in which he evoked the words of a former majority leader from Kansas.

“Bob Dole used to say he would follow Strom Thurmond very carefully: Whatever he eats, Bob Dole used to eat,” Daschle chuckled. “I have taken on that practice myself.”