WASHINGTON — This should be a joyous time for Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the assistant Senate majority leader.
His close friend was recently elected president. Senate Democrats will return to work in January with their effective ranks swelled to at least 58. And he was reelected to a third term in a landslide victory.
And yet, the Saturday before election day, Durbin and his wife, Loretta, were at a Washington-area hospital as his eldest daughter, Christine, 40, succumbed to a congenital heart condition after weeks in intensive care.
He missed the jubilant celebration in Chicago's Grant Park for Barack Obama's historic victory, watching it on TV instead. And he missed his own victory celebration as staff in Chicago phoned him in Washington with the voter returns.
"It hurt because it was something that I had dreamed of, and it was just a magical night," Durbin said of the raw elation he saw in Chicago on election night. But, he said, "I was where I needed to be: with my family."
Friends say Durbin, 64, is quieter and more reflective these days. His staff says he has reminded them to stop and remember what's most important in life.
"I think a part of him has died with her," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a close friend.
Obama, who speaks regularly with Durbin and has consulted with him on Cabinet appointments and other decisions, calls Durbin "a special, caring person."
"It is painful to see anyone suffer great loss," Obama said. "He and Loretta have been such wonderful friends to me and Michelle and so many others that we ache for them and their family."
The day before Thanksgiving, Durbin was in his Senate leadership office on the third floor of the Capitol, plotting out the legislative agenda with staff and talking about the road ahead as the balance of power in Washington shifts dramatically to Democratic control.
"Getting back to work for me is therapeutic," said Durbin, who spent the holiday in the capital with family.
During Congress' lame-duck session, he spent much of the week meeting with incoming freshmen senators, holding discussions about rescuing the troubled auto industry and sifting through requests for jobs in the new administration.
First on the legislative agenda is an omnibus fiscal 2009 spending bill and a second economic stimulus package. Durbin hopes Congress will pass the legislation so that it can be ready for Obama's signature on Jan. 20, the day he will be sworn into office.
