Senatorial Courtesy ...

The best view in Washington: The Capitol Rotunda

Question: How is my Civil Procedure professor (yet another Prof. B) like Bill Clinton? Answer: Both are married to United States Senators.

Question: How is Prof. B's wife (Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.) unlike Hillary Clinton? Answer: I actually like her. (Klobuchar, not Clinton.)

Question: Why do I bring this up?
Answer: Keep reading.

To reward us for taking our Civil Procedure midterm, or maybe just to make us like him again, Prof. B and Sen. Klobuchar (sorry, public figures do not get the protection of my abbreviations) invited our classes (about 50 students) to the Senate and Capitol last night for a tour and pizza party. This tour of the Capitol certainly topped the tours I used to give. For starters, our tour guides (Klobuchar and one of her staffers) knew much more than I ever did about the building and its history. And going onto the actual Senate Floor after hours with an actual sitting senator definitely added to the intrigue. The regular tour definitely does not include the Senate Floor!

I really liked Sen. Klobuchar, too. She seemed so friendly and unpretentious, and having only served in the Senate since January, she understood and appreciated our excitement to be there. And, she told us a good story about her husband. Evidently he participates faithfully in the Senate spouse club, much more than the few other husbands (the Senate only has 15 women). Well, one day Sen. Klobuchar and another female senator saw Prof. B carrying a box wrapped in pink paper, and discovered that he was en route to a baby shower for another senator's wife. Sen. Klobuchar characterized it as a victory for women everywhere, and I agree. (Obviously, she had not purchased ... or wrapped ... this gift for him ...)

Some other interesting bits of trivia I learned:

• The current female senators represent about half of all women who have ever served as U.S. Senators. (I think the tour guide said there have been 32 in all.)
• Each year, the president inspects and grades the gorgeous chandelier on the Senate side near the Rotunda. Only one president gave it an A- (all the rest gave it an A).
• Senators can purchase the chair they use in the Senate after they retire.