At an August 2009 town-hall meeting with constituents, Frank's pugnacious debating style was on display when a questioner compared Obama's health-care legislation to the policies of Nazi Germany.
"On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank said in response to the woman's question. Her comparison was "a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated," Frank replied.
Frank will in all likelihood be succeeded by a Democrat in the House, said Delahunt, who is now a Boston-based special counsel to the firm of Eckert Seamons Cherin & Mellot LLC. Setti Warren, the mayor of Newton who ended his campaign for Senate after Elizabeth Warren entered the race, and Jesse Mermell, a Brookline selectwoman, have been mentioned as possible successors.
Still, "Congress won't be the same without him," Delahunt said in a telephone interview.
Reflecting the anti-war sentiment of his overwhelmingly Democratic congressional district outside Boston, Frank was one of 61 Democrats who voted in favor of ending the U.S. support for rebel forces fighting to topple Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Frank played an important role in the 2009 passage of legislation that made attacks on people because of sexual orientation a federal hate crime. He "introduced a lot of members to this issue" and his departure will be an "enormous loss for the gay and lesbian community," Elmendorf said.
Frank didn't give specific plans for his next job. One profession Frank said he won't pursue is lobbying. Displaying his characteristic wit, he said he would be temperamentally unsuited for that role.
"One of the advantages of not running for office, I won't have to even pretend to be nice to people I don't like," Frank said. "Some of you think I have not been good at that, but I have been trying."