Tuesday's elections indicated that Congressmen now enjoy lifelong tenure in Washington as long as they leave the vexing problems of governing to others, like governors, mayors, county managers.

There are clear admonitions against familiar Chinese practices that the reformers have labeled abuses, such as concentrating power in the hands of a few leaders and permitting lifelong tenure in leadership positions.

Massenet had hopes of succeeding him in the job of Conservatoire director, abandoning this plan only when told by the government that the post would no longer carry lifelong tenure.

James MacGregor Burns stated lifelong tenure has "produced a critical time lag, with the Supreme Court institutionally almost always behind the times."

"By World War I the Catholic pastor was the lord of his neighborhood with lifelong tenure," he wrote.

In the federal system, by contrast, judges are appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate and awarded lifelong tenure.

Only 22 percent of all workers have the much-touted lifelong tenure.

One of the hallmarks of China's socialist economy was its promise of employment to all able and willing to work and job-security with virtually lifelong tenure.

But it is this very lifelong tenure in government that some critics say blinds Sir Donald to day-to-day realities of international finance.

In one of her latest television commercials, Ms. Feinstein promotes a sense of discord between her stand on crime and her lifelong tenure as a Democrat.