Two Congresses/Two Chambers

House Senate USA
% Women 16% 16% 51%
% Black 09% 01% 13%
% Latino 06% 03% 14%
% Asian 01% 02% 05%
Mean Age 56 62 37.5

Median Household Income (2006): $48,201
Congressional salary: (2008): $169,300

Louisiana Democratic Congressman Charlie Melancon (meh-LAW-sawn) has an official site and a campaign site. See a 2006 campaign ad, below.



One major difference between the chambers is that few House members run for president, and seldom get far when they do (see Duncan Hunter and Dennis Kucinich). But a fairly large fraction of senators have gone for the White House:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 1996, 2000
Joseph Biden (D-DE) 1988, 2008
Sam Brownback (R-KS) 2008
Robert Byrd (D-WV) 1976
Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 2008
Christopher Dodd (D-CT) 2008
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) 2000
Tom Harkin (D-IA) 1992
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) 2000
Edward Kennedy (D-MA) 1980
John Kerry (D-MA) 2004
Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) 2004
Richard Lugar (R-IN) 1996
John McCain (R-AZ) 2000, 2008
Barack Obama (D-IL) 2008
Arlen Specter (R-PA) 1996