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Hollings has been strong voice for S.C.

Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley went so far as to call Democratic Sen. Ernest F. Hollings the best and most effective U.S. senator in South Carolina's history. In the year South Carolina marked the loss of Strom Thurmond, we'll refrain from joining such a debate. Even the always candid Fritz Hollings would defer on that.

He might agree, however, that he is the most accomplished junior senator in the history of our land. First elected in 1966, Hollings at 81 only became the state's senior senator upon the retirement of Thurmond earlier this year.

Over four decades, he and Thurmond worked together on so many things, both focused on delivering for South Carolina, a poor Southern state with lots of needs. There's was not the Democrat-Republican relationship born of the "crossfire'' generation of politicians. These were two politicians given to conservatism, with disagreement on some issues. Importantly, they found more reasons to agree.

That's why when Thurmond died in June, Hollings was quick to praise the senior senator, citing the example of judgeships.

"We have all these arguments going on with respect to judges. He and I got together very early. We agreed when his president was in from his particular party, then he had the appointment. But we always -- he always -- asked me about it and of course I in turn asked him about it and we checked with each other. And that's the kind of way we worked together over the some 36 years.''

But there was more. Thurmond seniority and Hollings seniority gave the state important clout in committee chairmanships no matter which party was in control. Thurmond, the nation's oldest and longest-serving senator, was first in seniority. Hollings is fourth.

With Thurmond gone and Hollings leaving the Senate, an era is ending.

And with it will go significant influence for our state. In the U.S. Senate, seniority still rules. Our state won't have it.

Again, however, it is the Hollings candor that gives us hope that the state's interests will be in good hands. Even in characterizing Republican President George Bush and GOP S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford as the weakest chief executives with which he has served, he had praise for newly elected Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. "He knows how to make friends,'' and that is crucial in Washington.

Make no mistake, though, Hollings will be missed. Many in South Carolina's expanding Republican majority have criticized him as too liberal, a man who voted conservative only when his election was on the line. With his record on defense and fiscal conservatism, that's an unfair label.

Fritz Hollings has been a good senator and a good servant of South Carolina. He deserves high praise in retirement and thanks for the role he's played in this state's leadership for more than 50 years.