Senate Majority leader Robert Byrd (D, WV) seems surprised while talking with fellow Democratic Senators at a caucus on December 4, 1980. Byrd was elected Minority Leader while Sens. George Mitchell (C) was elected head of the Steering Committee and Daniel Inouye (R), was elected Chairman of the Democratic Conference, when the 97th Congress convenes in January. (UPI Photo/Don Rypka/Files)