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.