Thomas Daschle: “my old friend and teacher, Mo Udall, wrote a book called ``Too Funny to be President'' and dedicated it, in his words…”

“my old friend and teacher, Mo Udall, wrote a book called ``Too Funny to be President'' and dedicated it, in his words, ``to the 3,000 Members of Congress, living and dead, with whom I served for nearly three decades.'' It is true. We are all part of a continuum. In the history of our Nation, only 1,864 Americans have ever served in the Senate. Carved or penned into the drawers in our desks are the names of some of the giants--men such as Clay, Webster, Calhoun. But we don't have to open our desks or open a book to see one of the greatest Senators ever to serve in this body. All we have to do is open our eyes. He is right here, at the same desk he has occupied now for the last 40 years. I have been a Senator for 16 years. I count it as part of my good fortune that I have been able to call Ted Kennedy a colleague all of those years. I consider it an even greater privilege to call him my friend. Today it gives me enormous pleasure to join the rest of my colleagues in wishing my good friend a happy 70th birthday.”