Scott Brown and presidential candidate Mitt Romney

Instead, some of the state's best-known political figures are now Republicans, among them Sen. Scott Brown and presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"For a long time, Massachusetts Democrats have felt they played a moncler jackets special role in the national Democratic Party," said Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry. "I think that has gone at this point. There is no one in Congress from Massachusetts who has that stature now."

In Pictures: Barney Frank, now and then

Frank has long been a liberal lightning rod and is the highest-profile member of the state's all-Democratic House delegation. His announcement follows the decision of another Massachusetts representative, John Olver, a member of the House Appropriations panel, not to seek re-election.

Add to those impending departures the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy in 2009 and the state's loss of a House seat in the most recent redistricting process, and some Democrats in Massachusetts are wondering whether the glory days are behind them.

While the state's senior senator,Kids - moncler jackets John Kerry, has a powerful perch as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and often serves as a troubleshooter across the globe for the Obama administration, there's been plenty of speculation that if Obama wins re-election, Kerry could be tapped to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

That would rob Massachusetts of a strong Senate presence.

Part of the decline is due to inexorable demographic changes that are working against the relatively small Northeastern state.

While Southern and Southwestern states have experienced population booms, Massachusetts has seen anemic growth, leading to the loss of one of its 10 seats in Congress.

The prospect of running in a newly redrawn district with 325,000 new constituents, combined with the Democrats' loss of control of the House, prompted Frank's decision not to run again after more than three decades in Congress, the 71-year-old said.

"One of the advantages to me of not running for office is that I don't even have to pretend to be nice to people I don't like," the famously acerbic Frank said.

There was a time not so long ago when Massachusetts Democrats held outsized political sway in Washington.

That power may have reached a high water mark during the country's post-World War II years. Massachusetts politicians held the powerful post of House speaker for nearly 20 years, first under John McCormack from 1962 to 1971 and then again under Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, who wielded the gavel from 1977 to 1987.

During that same span, another Massachusetts Democrat — John F. Kennedy —cheap moncler jackets for kids was elected president, and his brother Edward began what would be a nearly half-century of service in the Senate.