Omitting the section of the Pledge that affirms these beliefs strips the message of its meaning. More than any political connotation, this is why the Pledge of Allegiance is more than incomplete without the words 'under God' and 'indivisible.' It is also empty.

Coats won the 1990 special election to serve the remainder of Quayle's unexpired term as well as the 1992 election for a full six-year term. Kennedy and Christopher Dodd and then-Republican Senator James Jeffords S. He did not seek reelection in 1998 and was succeeded by Evan Bayh.

He did not seek reelection in 1998 and was succeeded by Evan Bayh. C. Along with Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey he is one of two current Senators to have returned to the Senate having previously retired.