Lott, Now An Outsider, May Have Inside Track To Replace Frist

[JABBS]

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) is picking up strong support from conservatives for a return to the party's leadership, including serious consideration for the top job, being vacated by retiring Bill Frist (R-TN).

Seems Lott has successfully resuscitated his image. How? By successfully portraying himself as an insider's outsider -- someone who can be a team player, but isn't afraid to stand up to President Bush or Frist. And with Bush's poll numbers tanking and mid-term elections just around the corner, Republican outsiders are suddenly in again.

***

It's a far cry from 2002, when Lott had what he called a "little bump in the road."

At the 100th birthday party for the late Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Lott said: "I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of him. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

President Bush said Lott's comments "do not reflect the spirit of our country," and many of Lott's Republican colleagues agreed. Barely two weeks after the racially divisive remarks, Lott stepped down as majority leader, replaced by Frist.

***

Lott, forced from power, became something of an insider's outsider, at a time when the GOP voted en masse for the Bush agenda. But times have changed. Even Frist, the Senate face for the Bush agenda, has recently detached himself from some parts of the Bush agenda (with one eye on a 2008 presidential run).

But Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, another top candidate to replace Frist, has not detached himself from Bush. For example, McConnell endorsed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Lott thus far has not.

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania substantially trails state treasurer Robert Casey in recent polls in his bid for re-election next year. That may leave him out of the GOP leadership altogether. Perhaps in response to his own uphill climb for re-election, Santorum has begun detaching himself from the Bush agenda, most noticeably by remarking negatively on Bush's handling of Social Security reform. Like Lott, he has not endorsed Miers.

So, in the ever-changing Senate, Lott may soon find himself back on top.

"His moves over the past year have been brilliant," one associate told U.S. News & World Report. "From his Gang of 14 judicial nominee blueprint, the handling of the Katrina disaster, and now the Harriet Miers nomination, he knows that the American people expect that the Senate should be a check on the administration and not a rubber stamp."

***

This item first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.

[MADem]

1. ROLL CALL had this a while back

While the headline said WHIP, the body of the text insinuated more.

Lott Eyes Return As Whip
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_32/news/10735-1.html (sub req)

...Lott’s open musings about entering a leadership race comes as another race — one the Mississippian may enter himself — has begun to take shape. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is running for Whip, in a race that could pit him against Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who is up against his six-year term limit as Conference chairman...There also is a public battle being waged for the No. 5 spot, vice chairman of the Conference, between two up-and-comers, Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) are currently unopposed in their bids for Conference chairman and Policy Committee chairman, respectively, the No. 3 and 4 posts.

Lott’s angling to get back in leadership has been a near-constant topic in the halls of the Senate for at least a year, with many observers convinced he has grown tired of his role as elder statesman for the party sometimes sought out to help broker deals. Lott has not begun reaching out to other Senators to ask for their support, not even in terms of letting them know which position he’d go for, according to several Senators who spoke privately about their former leader.

One veteran GOP Senator said he had detected “a heightened sense of activity” from Lott in the past six months, particularly in terms of his willingness to speak out...But Lott must first decide to run for re-election before he seeks a return to leadership, and, to some extent, those two decisions appear to be intertwined. ...

[Nimrod2005]

2. Don't fall for it...

He is a BIG time insider. Nothing has changed.

[JABBS]

4. I don't doubt he's an insider

But in the game of perception, he's taken some stands against Bush and Frist (who he dislikes).

Hence, the term "insider's outsider."

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. Trent's supporters are ready to lobby for his cause

[NVMojo]

5. holy shit!! Racism will return!!! Or wait, the hoods will return!!!

I really hate these people ...