The Return of Trent Lott

Posted on November 15, 2006

He's back and he has to be feeling vindicated. Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) was elected as the Senate Minority Whip, the number 2 leadership position for the minority senate party. Mitch McConnell was unanimously elected Minority Leader. So, will it be payback time for Rove (who engineered Lott's ouster) and for Frist (Lott's mentee, who stabbed him in the back and took his job)? So far, Lott is taking the high road and not gloating.

Mr. Lott won the post over Senator Lamar Alexander, who had predicted on Tuesday that he had enough support to win. The 49 Republicans who will make up the new Senate chose Mr. Lott by a vote of 25 to 24, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who was defeated last week, told reporters.
"I'm honored to be a part of this leadership team to support Mitch McConnell and all of my colleagues to do a job that I've always really loved the most -- count the votes," Mr. Lott said in a Capitol corridor appearance with other Republican leaders. Mr. Lott, who turned 65 on Oct. 9, will be second in command to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was unanimously elected to be minority leader in the next Senate. Mr. McConnell had been the party whip while Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee was party leader. Mr. Frist is retiring from the Senate.
Mr. McConnell promised to work with Democrats. "But we will be a robust minority, a vigorous minority, and hopefully a minority that is only in that condition for a couple of years," he said. Other members of the Republican leadership team will be Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, John Cornyn of Texas and John Ensign of Nevada.
Senator Lott's return to leadership may be a reflection of the Republicans' sudden discomfort at being in the minority, and their desire to have an effective tactician as they try to outmaneuver Democrats and work to regain the majority in the elections two years from now.

The neocons hate Lott because he's a dealmaker -- he'll work with senators on the other side of the aisle to try to get a consensus. He loves the Senate process and he knows all the rules. No one on the Republican side of the aisle knows more about how to get things done in the Senate. He is a much more formidable opponent for Senate Democrats than Frist ever was. For now, he's the #2 guy. But you can bet he's got his eye on getting his old job back. Too bad that he has such an apalling voting record on everything from choice (he is 100% opposed to a woman's right to choose and to embryonic stem cell research) to privatizing social security (he's 100% in favor of it) to the environment (he opposes alternative fuels and reducing carbon emissions).