In one of the weirder instances of six degrees of separation, I now know two people who directly knew the last two senators to die in office. I actually was very hazy about Paul Wellstone's death on Friday (someone mentioned it in a talk with one professor) until Alexis told me, and the fact that he was a family friend. Also, an old online friend of mine used to go to the same church where Mel Carnahan served in Rolla, Mo.