GOP Senators Pick Frist to Lead

Senate Republicans on Monday named Sen. Bill Frist as the next Senate majority leader, seeking to end the Trent Lott controversy with a show of unity for the former heart surgeon from Tennessee.

Frist’s election, by acclamation through a cross-country telephone conference call, completed a remarkable intraparty coup that toppled Lott from the leadership post.

GOP senators concluded that Frist would help them quell the national uproar triggered by Lott’s Dec. 5 remark in praise of a 1948 presidential candidacy that advocated racial segregation.

Lott, a Mississippian, apologized repeatedly for his miscue, but he never recovered. Hurt by a barrage of criticism -- including some from President Bush -- he resigned as leader Friday, hours after Frist mounted his own candidacy for the job. Frist effectively locked up the job within hours of Lott’s resignation, securing key endorsements from potential rivals.

On Monday, in a conciliatory gesture, Lott participated in the 45-minute conference call that included 48 of the 51 Republicans who will serve in the Senate next year. Lott, who had led his colleagues as both majority and minority leader since 1996, apologized to his colleagues for putting them through the leadership ordeal, according to a Senate GOP aide. The aide, who requested anonymity, described Lott’s tone as “solemn.”

Frist, 50, will formally take over the majority leader’s job when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 7. He moved quickly to unify his party and stem the political damage that the Lott controversy had caused.

“We must dedicate ourselves to healing those wounds of division that have been reopened so prominently in the past few weeks,” Frist said in a televised appearance at his Nashville office after the conference call. He took no questions.

Referring repeatedly to his medical background, Frist said his professional training enabled him “to listen very, very closely; to diagnose; to treat; and, yes, to heal.” He likened his ascension to majority leader to the sensation he had experienced of holding a heart in his hands before a transplant operation.

“A few moments ago, my colleagues gave me a responsibility equal to that, and in some ways, many would say, even a heavier responsibility,” he said. “I accepted that responsibility with a profound sense of humility very similar to placing that heart into a dying woman or a child or a man.”

His comments on issues also underscored his interest in health issues. He spoke generally of the need to improve the economy, then mentioned reforming Medicare, making prescription drugs more affordable and improving medical treatment for the uninsured.

Helping undo Lott, 61, was a voting record and previous comments that were anathema to civil rights activists. Frist, by contrast, is one of a newer breed of GOP politicians from the South who share Bush’s vision of trying to expand the party’s appeal to minorities, albeit through conservative policies.

Frist’s close ties to the White House -- and the distance Bush kept from Lott throughout the recent furor -- sparked speculation that the administration helped orchestrate the Tennessean’s triumph.

But the White House steadfastly denied that it was trying to undermine Lott or promote Frist as a successor. On Monday, Frist expressed surprise at how fast he had risen to power. “Seven days ago, I had no earthly idea I would be standing before you,” he told reporters.

Bush issued a statement congratulating Frist after his selection had been announced, saying the senator “has earned the trust and respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.”

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said: “I hope we can work together to promote economic security and justice for all Americans, protect America from terrorism and deal with the other urgent needs of our nation.”

Despite such accolades and expressions of goodwill, Frist faces instant challenges as he assumes one of the toughest jobs in Washington.

As a prominent party spokesman, he must explain how Republicans will answer persistent questions about race relations that have risen anew since Lott’s verbal blunder at the 100th birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).

As a promoter of Bush’s agenda, he must soothe the bruised feelings of some senior GOP senators who felt Lott was betrayed by his own party. Frist must also demonstrate that he is not the president’s puppet.

Finally, as a coalition builder in a narrowly divided chamber, he will have to reach out to Democrats who may be emboldened by the Lott controversy to exploit GOP weaknesses among minority voters.

Frist sought to do that Monday, calling Daschle to pledge bipartisanship. An early test will come as the two leaders negotiate a new Senate organizing resolution.

Democrats are pressing for nearly equal funding for their committee staff; most Republicans want the lion’s share of money.

“His real problem is the Senate is difficult to manage,” said Steven S. Smith, a political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. “He has a very slim majority, and it’s going to be very difficult to get the president’s program through.”

With only 51 Republicans in a chamber that usually requires 60-vote majorities to pass major legislation, Frist cannot afford GOP defections as he seeks support from Democrats.

“In some ways, he’s now the coach giving a pep talk to the team,” said Michael Franc, vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. “He has to pull them together psychologically and make them once again a unified whole.

“Given the narrow majority, he can’t afford to have the residue of this situation divide the Republican conference,” he said.

Frist becomes the 18th senator and ninth Republican to hold the position of Senate majority leader. The position, unlike the speaker of the House or the Senate president pro tempore, is not a constitutional office. Instead, it developed in the 20th century as a means for the modern Senate to manage the flow of legislation. The majority leader, under Senate tradition, has the right to be recognized before any other senator in the chamber. That gives him (no leader has been a woman) the ability to call up bills, judicial nominations or executive nominations -- and the right to ask for cloture to shut down filibusters.

For Frist, who is thought to have presidential ambitions in 2008, the post could be an important stepping-stone. One Senate majority leader, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, has gone on to become president. Another, Republican Bob Dole of Kansas, became his party’s nominee for president in 1996.

In replacing Lott, Frist vaulted over several senators who had outranked him in the party’s leadership. Among them were Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the incoming majority whip, and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the conference chairman.

Frist was most recently the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a key campaign position but lower on the leadership ladder.

Two of his new leadership lieutenants, Santorum and George Allen of Virginia, told reporters on Capitol Hill that the party is eager to put the Lott episode behind it.

“We are now back on track and ready to move forward,” Santorum said. He had been a Lott loyalist and briefly considered challenging Frist on Friday.

“This was not, obviously, a joyous celebration, for Sen. Frist or anybody,” Santorum said.

Allen, an early backer of Frist and his replacement as head of the GOP Senate campaign committee, described Republicans who participated in Monday’s phone call as “prayerful” and, now, united.

“I think we all have learned,” Allen said. “I think there’s greater understanding. And with that, we’re going to move forward with an agenda.”