With Mark Begich's recently confirmed defeat of Ted Stevens as Alaska's senator, the U.S. Senate's nepotism count remains roughly even.

Out are Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu, Republicans from North Carolina and New Hampshire respectively. Dole's husband Bob served for many years as senator from Kansas and ran for president. John E Sununu is son of John H Sununu, who served as governor of New Hampshire and White House chief of staff. The Scrabblish-looking surname is Arab. Grandfather John S Sununu was Maronite (Catholic) Lebanese.

In are Begich and two Udalls, all Western Democrats. Mark Begich (surname is Croatian) is son of Nick Begich, who served one term as Alaska's representative to the House. In 1972, Majority Leader Hale Boggs (father of journalist Cokie Roberts) visited Alaska to campaign with Begich. A few weeks before the election, the two were lost in a plane crash while en route from Anchorage to Juneau. The wreckage was not discovered until a few weeks after the election, which Begich won in absentia, defeating Republican Don Young. In the special election that followed, Young prevailed and has held the seat ever since. In 1984 and 1986, Young's opponent was Pegge Begich, Nick's widow and Mark's mother.

[Update #1: Mom writes to remind me that the wreckage of the plane and the remains of Boggs and Begich were never found. After 39 days the search was abandoned, and a month later all on board were pronounced dead.]

The Udalls are a political dynasty now in its fourth generation. The family's political roots are in Arizona, where Udall forefathers served in various state and local offices. The third generation produced Stewart Udall, who represented Arizona in the House before being tapped to serve as Secretary of the Interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Stewart's House seat was taken over by his younger brother Morris "Mo" Udall, who later sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. In the recent election, Stewart's son Tom Udall was elected senator from New Mexico while his cousin Mark Udall, son of Mo, was elected senator from Colorado.

The final member of our sextet is also a Udall, though he doesn't carry the name. Stewart and Mo's cousin Jessica Udall is the mother of Gordon Smith, Republican senator from Oregon, who was defeated in his bid for re-election.

[Update #2: Elizabeth Dole lost her North Carolina Senate seat to Democrat Kay Hagan. Hagan's uncle Lawton Chiles was governor of and U.S. senator from Florida. (Thanks to Pete for the tip.)]

I haven't researched the background of every senator, so perhaps I'm missing a few, but here's the other senators I know of who came to office as part of the family business, in approximate order of family influence.

Ted Kennedy (D, MA) inherited the Senate seat of his brother John, who went on to become president. Their other brother Robert was senator from New York, U.S. attorney general, and candidate for president.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, NY) is wife of Bill Clinton, who was president of the United States and governor of Arkansas before that.

John D "Jay" Rockefeller IV (D, WV) had several relatives in politics, though no immediate relations. His uncle Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York and briefly vice president of the United States. Another uncle, Winthrop Rockefeller, was governor of Arkansas. Various other Rockefellers held minor political offices and, much more prominently, were business leaders. Jay Rockefeller is married to Sharon Percy, CEO of WETA-TV, the PBS station in Washington, DC, and daughter of Charles Percy, who was senator from Illinois. Their son, John D Rockefeller V, married the daughter of former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Evan Bayh (D, IN) occupies the same Senate seat that his father Birch Bayh held for three terms. Evan goes by his middle name; his full name is Birch E Bayh III. Like Mo Udall, Birch Bayh sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976; both were defeated by Jimmy Carter.

Mark Pryor (D, AR) is son of David Pryor, who preceded him in the same Senate seat and also served as governor of Arkansas.

Chris Dodd (D, CT) is son of Thomas Dodd who was also senator from Connecticut (but in the other seat).

Lisa Murkowski (R, AK) also succeeded her father in the Senate, but in her case there were no others intervening. Two years into his fourth term as Alaska's senator, Frank Murkowski ran for governor and won. One of his first acts as governor was to appoint his daughter, then in the state legislature, to finish his Senate term. This caused much consternation among the electorate, and possibly contributed to Frank's defeat to Sarah Palin in the 2004 primary, but Lisa survived the political scandal and was narrowly re-elected to the Senate in 2006.

John McCain (R, AZ) is the third of his name. John Sidney McCain Sr and John Sidney McCain Jr were both four-star admirals. Wikipedia says they are the "first" father-son pair to achieve that distinction. As far as I know, they're the only pair.

Sheldon Whitehouse (D, RI) certainly has a dynastic sounding name. His father and grandfather were both diplomats.

Claire McCaskill's (D, MO) father was state insurance commissioner in Missouri.

Olympia Snowe (R, ME) met her second husband, John McKernan, when they were Maine's two representatives in the U.S. House. She remained in the House while he went on to serve a term as governor, during which they married. She later went on to become senator.

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R, TX) met her second husband when both were serving in the Texas State House. Her career was much more successful than his. He ran for governor once but was defeated in the primary.

If I've missed anyone, please don't hesitate to fill me in.

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