New Faces in the Senate

Bill Bradley, 35, was no flashy superstar as a New York Knicks basketball forward. He was no intellectual whiz kid as a Rhodes scholar. But on the court and in college, the son of a Republican banker in Crystal City, Mo., proved steady, persistent--and successful. His political career in New Jersey has begun the same way. In campaigning as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate, Bradley was not eloquent, inspirational or innovative. But he studied the issues, plugged away with a left-of-center pitch and barely stopped to sleep. Aided by his well-known name and voters' distrust of Republican Nominee Jeffrey Bell's advocacy of the Kemp-Roth 30% tax-rate cut, Bradley won. Two days after his victory, he was back pounding streets and visiting plant gates to thank people for their votes. Despite his lack of natural political abilities, Bradley could become a successful Senator by applying this same kind of diligence to his new duties in Washington.

Thad Cochran, 40, the first Republican Senator from Mississippi since 1881, is as rigidly conservative as his Democratic predecessor, six-term Senator James Eastland. In three terms as a Congressman, Cochran ran up a 95% voting approval rating from the American Conservative Union and a zero approval rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. Cochran has a boyish charm and is an easygoing, relaxed campaigner. He has consistently drawn votes from both parties and run up increasingly large winning margins (as high as 78%) in his congressional campaigns. He won last week in a three-way race against Democratic Attorney Maurice Dantin of Columbia and Independent Mayor Charles Evers of Fayette, a black. Son of a retired public school principal, Cochran has been an achiever all his life: Eagle Scout, high school valedictorian, student body vice president at the University of Mississippi, honors graduate of the Ole Miss law school. Before running for Congress, he practiced law in Jackson. In the Senate, he hopes to land a seat on the Agriculture Committee, where he wants to protect Mississippi farmers from increased imports of beef and dairy products.

William Cohen, 38, first broke into the national scene as the young Congressman from Maine whose boyish face registered his anguish during the House Judiciary Committee's televised debates over the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Deftly turning phrases (Cohen has published a book of poetry, Of Sons and Seasons), he explained that circumstantial evidence was enough to support a vote of impeachment. "Conspiracies are not born in the sunlight," he said. "They are hatched in dark recesses, amid whispers and code words." A former Bowdoin College basketball star who frequently quotes from the Latin classics, Cohen still carries that same image of youthfulness and intelligence. His style and elevation to the Senate make him one of the G.O.P.'s brightest new stars. Moreover, in the age of TV his stunning blond wife Diane and two handsome teen-age sons are also politi cal assets. A conservative on money matters, he appealed across party lines to knock Democratic Incumbent William Hathaway out of office. Cohen is expected to prove especially forceful in arguing for party positions in the Senate when he sides with them, but firmly independent when he does not.

Nancy Landon Kassebaum, 46, was four years old when her father Alf was crushed by F.D.R. in the 1936 presidential election. Yet even after Nancy became old enough to understand what had happened, her love of politics remained undimmed. Last year, after helping to raise four children and being legally separated from her husband, a Wichita lawyer, she made her first bid for major political office, starting near the top by running for the U.S. Senate. The petite (5 ft. 2 in.) Kassebaum campaigned at first in a softspoken, gentle manner but quickly picked up the tempo against former Democratic Congressman Bill Roy. She wound up strong-spirited and refreshingly frank, telling Kansas farmers that their demands for 100% of parity on crop supports were unrealistic and inflationary. She told women's groups that she favored the Equal Rights Amendment but was against extending the time limit for its ratification. She told teachers' groups that she opposed a separate U.S. Department of Education. She supported the Panama Canal treaties, which were unpopular in Kansas. Speaking from her experience as a former aide to retiring Kansas Senator James Pearson, she contends that the Senate is a bloated "bureaucracy in itself," loaded with too many staff people who isolate Senators from their constituents.

Carl Levin, 44; made a name for himself as president of the Detroit city council in the early 1970s by taking on the federal bureaucracy--and winning. He did so by deciding to tear down thousands of abandoned houses that had been taken over by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and had become breeding grounds for crime. When HUD's lethargic officials threatened to prosecute Levin and Mayor Coleman Young, the two city officials ordered the housing razed anyway--and HUD did nothing. Challenging Republican Senator Robert Griffin this year, Democrat Levin again campaigned against overgrown government. Yet he never recanted his basically liberal philosophy, bridging the gap by claiming: "People aren't against every government program; they just want their money's worth." A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School Levin is a member of a highly active political family. His older brother Sander twice ran unsuccessfully against Michigan Governor William Milliken, and cousin Charles Levin sits on the Michigan Supreme Court. Levin expects to spend much of his time in the Senate attacking governmental waste and inefficiency.

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