One of the many records Strom Thurmond has broken as the oldest senator in American history was to speak for 24 hours and 18 minutes without a break to kill a civil rights law in 1957. Now, three months past his 98th birthday, the senator for South Carolina speaks in faltering tones from large cue cards prepared by aides - if he has to talk at all.
With regular weekend trips to local hospitals and reports of him collapsing, the once-vigorous good health of Senator Thurmond is now the talk of Washington. And, even by its own standards of hard-boiled political intrigue, the gossip has degenerated into a most morbid pastime.
Should Senator Thurmond step down or die in office, the Republicans of President George W. Bush will lose their grip on the Senate, America's upper house, throwing his more controversial legislative plans into doubt.
The body is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats after the closest election in generations. The Republicans hold sway only through the tie-breaking vote of Vice-President Dick Cheney.
But should a replacement for Senator Thurmond be needed, it will fall to the Governor of South Carolina to make a selection. And as Governor Jim Hodges is a Democrat, he is expected to choose along party lines.
'Usually no one likes to indulge in this sort of speculation, it is almost a convention,' one veteran Republican congressional staffer said. 'This one is different . . . it has absorbed us all.'
Senator Thurmond has missed several debates in recent weeks and has even forgone his duties in wielding the gavel to open sessions as Senate President Pro Tempore - a function he has conducted with relish in recent years.
