It was with a certain amount of sadness that I heard that Tom DeLay had bid adieu to “Dancing with the Stars,” the wildly popular TV show.  In an era of massive political corruption, we need as many examples as possible of how the mighty have fallen.  And he was a gem.

The ex-Majority Leader is apparently waiting to find out whether he will be indicted for assorted (let’s be kind) indiscretions, but that did not stop him from disporting himself in rhinestones and red stripes.  Apparently he was quite the dancer in his college years and that skill set was never lost.

We’ll never have the chance now to find out whether he would have emerged the winner.  DeLay had to bow out due to stress fractures in both feet.  Despite his never-say-die spirit, it just got to be too painful to continue applying himself to the requisite cha-chas and sambas.

When I first heard he was a contestant on the show, I silently sent him the time-honored message to those going on stage, “Break a leg, Tom.” 

Little did I expect he’d break two.

We’re hearing an awful lot about the so-called Gang of Six, those six senators on the Senate Finance Committee who are negotiating among themselves what is likely to be the template for health care reform for the rest of us.

There’s the chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., of course.  Everywhere you turn it’s Baucus this, Baucus that.   Then there’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking Republican member of the committee. 

The other committee members are Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Me.; Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; and last but not least, Sen. Jeff  Bingaman, D-N.M.

I had to do some research to find out who the sixth senator was in this gang since one never hears Bingaman’s name mentioned.  Then I remembered these are secret negotiations.

In any case, in looking over this list of negotiators who hold the fate of one-sixth of the economy in their hands, the oddity of politics in America in 2009 became crystal-clear to me. 

I knew that the states these senators represent are small population-wise, but I did not realize how small they are.   

The largest of the six, Iowa, ranks #30 of the 50 states, according to the 2008 estimate of state populations, with 3,002,555 residents.

Here are the rankings of the other 5 states whose senators comprise the Gang of Six:

#36-New Mexico with 1,984,356

#40-Maine with 1,316,456

#44-Montana with 967,440

#48-North Dakota with 641,481

#50-Wyoming with 522,830

All six of these states are smaller than the largest U.S. territory, Puerto Rico, whose population was 3,954,037, which would have ranked it #27.

The combined population of these six states is less than the population of the state I live in, New Jersey.

None of these states comes close to matching the populations of New York City or Los Angeles.

Wyoming, in fact, is smaller in terms of population than the 32 largest American cities.

I have nothing against smallness per se.  We all learned some time ago that “Small is Beautiful.”

What does stick in my craw is that none of these states is truly representative of the predominately urban nation we have become. And yet they are the ones determining health care for California, New York and the 27 other states that have more people than Iowa.

Does this matter?  I think it matters a great deal since health care delivery in Wyoming or North Dakota confronts a very different situation than does health care delivery in Massachusetts or Michigan, Chicago or Philadelphia.  And how would Sen. Enzi or Sen. Conrad know?

That there is no urban representation within this group of six senators makes me think that whatever the outcome of their negotiations is, it is going to be unduly skewed to the needs and peculiarities of their fewer than 8.5 million combined residents.

It’s probably idle thinking at this point to hope that this prescription can be rewritten. But it’s definitely not what the doctor ordered.

August has been a cruel month for the Kennedy clan, first with the death on the 11^th of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and then two weeks later, that of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

I’m not sure, but they may have been the last living siblings of John and Robert Kennedy, both cut down too soon.

Public service was ingrained in these men and women and it continues in the ranks of their children and grandchildren. 

The outpourings of sympathy and remembrance have just started to be released in the case of Ted, who died last night after a long and brave bout with brain cancer.

Calling him “the greatest United States Senator of our time,” President Obama said of Kennedy that “for five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.”

The praise, however, did not just come from the left side of the aisle.  Here is what Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah had to say: “Today America lost a great elder statesman, a committed public servant, and leader of the Senate. And today I lost a treasured friend. Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated. Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy’s name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber.”

Within our industry, Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said, “Senator Edward Kennedy was America’s health care champion. His contribution to health care policy is unmatched.  AHIP and its members join the entire health care community in extending our thoughts and prayers to the Kennedy family.”

I also find particularly touching this comment from the first President Bush: “Barbara and I were deeply saddened to learn Ted Kennedy lost his valiant battle with cancer. While we didn’t see eye-to-eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service–so much so, in fact, that I invited him to my library in 2003 to receive the Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the United States Senate–a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body’s history.”

What I think is remarkable about Ted Kennedy’s life is how he grew in stature over time, how he was able to recover from the devastation of the killing of one beloved brother and then a few years later of yet another brother.  These jolts never turned into an excuse for becoming bitter or losing the compassion that motivated so much of what he did and stood for.

While he never compromised his vision-and yes, let’s be clear here that that vision was as liberal as they come-he understood that it was important to reach across the aisle to get things done, to move the agenda forward. 

Of all the remembrances that have been issued up to now, the one I like best and the one that I think Kennedy himself would like is from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said, “The liberal lion’s mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die.”