ELECTIONS: Curtains for Cotton Ed

Cotton Ed Smith, galumphing off to the Senate chamber, liked to say that he was "going over to the Cave of the Winds." During his 35 years in the Senate, he himself could summon up as hot a sirocco as any that scorched the Ship of State. A fit of temper would get him on his feet, and if he could not get the Speaker's attention, he would hack petulantly away on the arm of his chair with a penknife. The old man (80) has a somewhat high-pitched voice, corkscrewing oddly out of...

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