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"Lott eyes a comeback
By Geoff Earle
Sen. Trent Lott is considering a return to the GOP leadership — the culmination of a multiyear effort to rehabilitate his image after being forced to resign his post as majority leader.
Lott has set his sights on the job of party whip — the No. 2 job in the GOP leadership — a position expected to be won without opposition by GOP Conference Chairman Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) if Santorum wins reelection.
Santorum faces a reelection campaign in a Democratic, blue state, although Republicans express confidence that he will prevail when voters go to the polls in November next year.
Asked whether he would seek the whip’s job, Lott told The Hill last week, “I might, but I hope it’s Rick.”
Senate GOP aides say Lott has already begun gauging his level of support in the conference, although several declined to comment because of the sensitivity of the matter.
If a vacancy in leadership were to occur, Lott’s election would by no means be a certainty. Some Republicans might be concerned that bringing Lott back into the elected leadership would send the wrong signal by recalling Lott’s fall from grace.
But he has worked hard to impress members of the conference with his skill and his work ethic ever since he stepped down. He used his expertise on a freelance basis to help GOP leaders solve several challenges.
Asked whether he could prevail, Lott — who has never lost a leadership election — replied, “I would at least shake things up considerably. I’ve had five different leadership jobs in Congress, and I’m 5-and-0.”
Although successful runs for leadership often involve years of advance planning, Lott’s willingness to discuss his ambition openly is an unusual breach of Senate protocol, since it could undermine Santorum by suggesting that he is vulnerable.
Santorum helped provide a soft landing for Lott when Lott had to give up his leadership post, agreeing to relinquish the chairmanship of the Rules Committee, which he would have chaired by seniority.
In an interview with The Hill in April, Lott described the whip’s job as the best job in Washington, but at the time he downplayed a possible return to leadership.
“Just so everybody will be a little nervous, I never say no,” he said at the time. “But it’s not very likely. I had my shot at being in the leadership for 20 of 32 years” in the House and Senate. Lott often describes himself as an “old whip” from the House, where he held the post.
In an interview with The Washington Post in April, he also raised the possibility of returning to leadership, saying, “If the right circumstances came along, I might do it again.”
Lott clearly has enjoyed aspects of being outside the leadership, freely speaking his mind on a range of topics while leveling harsh criticism at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other figures. Some close to him think Lott would not want to give that up to rejoin the GOP leadership team.
And he would probably face challengers if he jumped into the race for a leadership slot. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is planning to run for the chairmanship of the GOP conference but could decide instead to seek the whip’s job if it is open. If Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) succeeds in her effort to boost Republicans as chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, she too could make a bid for another leadership post.
When he was leader, Lott was the subject of considerable griping, particularly among conservatives who felt he sometimes was too willing to make deals to keep legislation moving through the Senate. Some waited for the day when Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) might challenge Lott, but he never did.
When Lott made nostalgic comments about the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) on Thurmond’s 100th birthday, Lott’s support crumbled and Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) emerged as leader. Lott had said that if Thurmond, who ran a segregationist campaign as a Dixiecrat, had won the presidency, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years.” Frist is planning to retire from the Senate in 2006 and is expected to make a presidential bid.
Some Republicans also held Lott partly responsible for then Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-S.D.) success in stalling the GOP agenda.
The Democrats’ continued success in blocking GOP legislation and nominees under Frist, despite a larger GOP majority, may have caused some Republicans to view Lott’s tenure in a more favorable light.
It is unclear whether enough time has passed for Lott to put the Thurmond episode behind him. Lott took steps after the incident to prove his racial sensitivity, hiring black staffers and consulting with African-American leaders. This month, he was one of several mainly Southern Republican senators who did not co-sponsor anti-lynching legislation.
The whip’s job also is far less visible than the leader’s job and involves much behind-the-scenes work moving legislation on the Senate floor.
Frist told The Hill that some senators approached him in the past week to discuss their plans to seek a leadership post under various scenarios. He said that most senators keep him abreast of their plans, although he said Lott has not talked to him about what he might do. Asked whether Kyl would run for whip if a vacancy occurred, Frist replied, “I really don’t know.”
Lott has contacts in the party’s conservative and centrist camps, as well as in the administration and among Democrats. Last week, he teamed with Gulf Coast lawmakers to help defeat a budget point of order against a program to benefit coastal wetlands. A few weeks earlier, Lott convened negotiations that resulted in a deal on judicial nominees, an action some conservatives said undermined Frist. Lott backed away from the negotiations, however, after conservative groups protested, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) completed them.
Lott is close with Judiciary Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is working to persuade Philadelphia centrists to back Santorum. He has maintained close contacts with senior lawmakers, some of whom he served with in the House. He also is close with Rep. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
“She’s very close with him,” Snowe’s spokeswoman said. “She does absolutely think the world of Lott, thinks he’s very bright, a shrewd politician, [and] respects his political acumen and his skill as a legislator.”
Lott has not said for certain that he will seek reelection. He raised $195,000 in the first quarter and had $884,000 cash on hand. He is also mentioned as someone who might someday become chancellor at the University of Mississippi, his alma mater.
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