Update: The Cleveland Plain Dealer has posted an archive of columns and stories about Senator Metzenbaum. Excerpt: "He was the last of the ferocious New Deal liberals," Dick Feagler once wrote. And the New York Times has posted a longer tribute-obit: Howard M. Metzenbaum, Who Battled Big Business as Ohio Senator, Dies at 90

When I first came to Washington, I had the privilege of working with Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) on a variety of consumer protection efforts, including proposals to require federally-insured and lavishly subsidized banks to offer more affordable accounts to working Americans. He was a passionate defender of justice and the public interest. Senator Metzenbaum's wins on behalf of workers and their families were important, but just as important were his tireless efforts to stop the worst, most self-serving corporate scams and dodges from becoming law. He was a master of the Senate's arcane parliamentary processes and not afraid to push the limits of its "be nice to other Senators" rules, if a powerful speech about a special-interest package inserted into legislation in the dark of night with no hearings or public discussion would help stop or delay it. After he retired in 1995, he became unpaid chairman of the Consumer Federation of America and continued to lobby his former colleagues into his eighties. Many of his fiercely loyal former staff now work with other public interest organizations. Howard Metzenbaum was a consumer champion. (Associated Press via New York Times, Columbus Dispatch.)