Metzenbaum died at his home near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Joel Johnson, hisformer chief of staff. No cause was given.
During 18 years on Capitol Hill, from 1977 to 1995, Metzenbaum came to be known as"Senator No" and "Headline Howard" for his abilities to block legislation and get publicity forhimself.
He was a cantankerous firebrand who didn't need a microphone to hold a fullauditorium spellbound while dropping rhetorical bombs on big oil companies, the insurance industry,savings and loans, and the National Rifle Association, to name just a few favorite targets.
Unabashedly liberal, the former labor lawyer and union lobbyist considered himselfa champion of workers and was a driving force behind the law requiring 60-day notice of plantclosings.
When other liberals shied away from that label, Metzenbaum embraced it, winningre-election in 1988 from Ohio voters who chose Republicans for governor and president, and by widermargins than either George Voinovich or George H.W. Bush.
That victory produced his third, final and most productive term in the Senate. When it was over,in 1995, he started a new career as consumer advocate, heading the Consumer Federation ofAmerica.
