Lott Bids for Return to Senate Leadership

WASHINGTON - Ousted Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott is plotting a return to the Senate's center of power with a quiet but intense campaign against Sen. Lamar Alexander for the vote-counting job of minority whip.

Alexander, who has been campaigning for the post for 18 months, said in a statement that he has commitments of support from most of the members of the GOP caucus, which was meeting Wednesday to choose new leaders.

"We need some new faces and some fresh themes," Alexander, R-Tenn., told reporters.

Lott, R-Miss., relished his deal-making duties as majority leader but stepped down in 2002 under pressure over remarks that were interpreted as racially insensitive. He has long hinted at making a comeback bid.

With the midterm elections finished and another candidate for the post, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, failing to win re-election, Lott is casting himself as the more experienced candidate and the better choice for a job that will be crucial in a Democratic-controlled Senate split 51-49.

The Tennessee senator, meanwhile, is not new to the art of counting votes among finicky colleagues, any one of whom can use Senate procedure to hold up business or kill legislation. A former Cabinet secretary and governor and now a deputy Republican whip, Alexander is casting himself as a morale-booster for a demoralized Republican caucus.

"He's a quieter, lower-key person" than Lott, said Tom Ingram, Alexander's chief of staff. "He's plenty tough enough to go toe-to-toe with the opposition every day. But (he'll) do it in a way that's constructive, not destructive."

Remaining neutral is Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is uncontested in his bid to be the Republican minority leader. Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is retiring from the Senate under a self-imposed term limit and is a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination in two years.

The GOP whip's race is but one source of suspense in the wake of the midterm balloting, in which war-weary voters stripped President Bush's party of its majority. Congress returned to a lame-duck session to pass a budget, and the Senate was considering Bush's nomination of a new defense secretary.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats elected their leadership roster after voting in the opulent privacy of the Old Senate Chamber.

Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Minority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois will ascend to majority leader and majority whip, respectively.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., will continue as the chairman of the party's campaign fundraising committee. Schumer also will add vice chairman to his title, making him No. 3 in the leadership and a chief strategist.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington will serve as conference secretary; Debbie Stabenow of Michigan will chair the steering committee; and Byron Dorgan of South Dakota will serve as chairman of the research-focused policy committee.

House Democrats choose their leaders on Thursday; House Republicans elect theirs on Friday.