Keller @ Large: Grading Performances Of Markey, Warren

BOSTON (CBS) - If you were watching TV news Tuesday, it was hard to avoid the two U.S. senators from Massachusetts.

"Corruption is a form of public cancer, and Washington's got it bad," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren during a speech presenting her plan to crack down on lobbyist influence and political self-dealing.

"The only thing skimpier than airplane leg room is the coverage of these insurance policies," said Sen. Ed Markey in an interview about his criticisms of the travel insurance industry.

When it comes to keeping a high profile, our senators both get high grades, with Markey only marginally less visible in the spotlight than Warren, but there's a notable contrast in what these two use their visibility for.

Warren specializes in sweeping indictments and reforms of the status quo, like today's anti-corruption proposal. "Enough of this garbage, prosecute companies that knowingly mislead government agencies," she said Tuesday.

Markey seems to prefer a more ham-and-egg approach. "Consumers are being tipped upside down, money is shaken out of their pockets," he told CBS News, which featured a report his office produced documenting consumer complaints about travel insurance.

While the two senators share a consumer-protection focus, Warren admits to often swinging for the fences, while Markey is more often content with doubles in the gap.

Markey has been around the Capitol since 1976, and has a wide circle of friends. Warren has only been there since 2013, and freely concedes her scorched-earth rhetoric sometimes rubs insiders the wrong way. "Inside Washington some of these proposals will be very unpopular, even with my friends," she said of her anti-corruption plan.

So it should come as no surprise that the GovTrack.us website finds bills primarily sponsored by Markey are passed much more frequently than Warren's legislation.

By that measure, he gets the edge on effectiveness.

Both senators stand to see their clout enhanced by a possible Democratic takeover of the Senate this fall and if she wins re-election this fall here at home, Warren's widely-rumored presidential aspirations could launch her visibility into orbit.

But with what promises to be a huge field of White House hopefuls and a contentious primary process, Warren's high profile could chafe some of her colleagues even further, making Markey's insider connections all the more important.