Rockefeller was always a backbencher yes man who never inspired the respect or commanded the purse strings that Byrd did. He managed to make a 30 year career in the Senate by basically schmoozing the elites in the state. After 30 years of going with the flow, Rockefeller in his final year started bucking the trend. All the while, Byrd, who had been Senate Majority Leader and President Pro-Tempore, had been a fairly regular rebel who bucked the trend on issues like the Gulf War.
I have mixed feelings about him. On one hand, he could have lived a far more glamorous life in someplace like NY or CT and probably had a promising career as a "Rockefeller Republican" and instead he chose to go do volunteer work in one of the poorest states in the country and spend the rest of his life in public service. On the other, he seemed, especially in his final years in the Senate, to regard his constituents like some primitive people who he was the benevolent colonial administrator for.
I wonder if there will ever be any more Rockefellers in politics. (The Kennedys seem to always keep filling up their bench.)
And is he terribly wrong about that? 
Enjoy President Trump.
