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December 19, 2002 Lott Awaits A Foe
By Paul Kane
With still no official opponent or widespread calls for resignation from colleagues, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has dug in for battle to retain his position as Majority Leader.
Despite media reports and speculation that he doesn't have the votes to survive, Lott's advisers insist that momentum moved in their favor Wednesday as several "Old Bull" committee chairmen lined up behind him. "We're having a good day," one Lott adviser said. Lott has continued to make calls all week to try to shore up his shaky support among Republican Senators, who are scattered across the globe, making it even more difficult to gauge his support. One Senator who spoke to Lott said the GOPleader did not specifically ask for his support, but talked as a way of "sounding me out." Senators, as well as a handful of chiefs of staff and leadership aides, said those opposed to Lott had not been mounting any formal whip campaign to round up Senators who will promise to oust Lott. In that vacuum, Lott's supporters are trying to shift the tide with appearances on cable news networks. Lott still faces what many regard as an uphill battle to secure the 26 votes he would need to fight off any challenge to his leadership. But he has vowed to stay in the fight rather than heed calls to resign, most of which have come from conservative commentators and Democrats. "I'm telling you here this morning, I'm hanging in there," Lott told a group of businessmen in Biloxi, Miss., on Wednesday morning. Lott's supporters declined to give any estimates on the number of actual supporters in the Conference. A core group of about 10 veteran Senators is providing the backbone of his support, with several more potentially in his corner, according to observers on all sides of the fight. A roughly equal number of Senators appear to have lined up against Lott, leaving roughly two dozen Senators in charge of determining the Mississippi Republican's fate. Two weeks after Lott's remarks at Sen. Strom Thurmond's (R-S.C.) birthday party kickstarted the leadership crisis, Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), a longtime Lott foe,is the only Senator to have publicly endorsed a new election. Many others, ranging from longtime Lott supporters such as Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) to mavericks such as Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), have endorsed the idea of discussing the imbroglio at a GOP conference that is currently slated for Jan. 6, the day before the 108th Congress begins. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), a moderate, became the first GOP Senator to suggest Lott should resign during a radio interview in Providence. But he then backed away from that statement when he said the only way that would happen is if the White House officially told Lott to do so - something White House spokesman Ari Fleischer adamantly said wouldn't happen. "The White House does not choose sides in a potential leadership race," Fleischer said Wednesday at the White House briefing. The White House, however, has demonstrated that its support for Lott is tenuous, at best, first through President Bush's strong condemnation of Lott's remarks supporting Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign and later with prominent background quotes in the media strongly criticizing him. One senior GOP Senator said the discussions within the White House went far beyond just the wording of Bush's statement, given before a predominantly black audience in Philadelphia. The White House had a "fierce" debate over whether to call for Lott's resignation but instead settled on the strong denunciation, said the Senator, requesting anonymity. That Senator also suggested that the intense media focus on Lott might die down in the days ahead, unless something happens to change the dynamic. "I think it has to be someone stepping up and challenging Trent," he said. That could come either through an opponent officially entering the race or a Senator specifically requesting that the Jan. 6 meeting be a "vote of no confidence." Lott knows what every Member of Congress is lectured about as they reach for the brass ring of leadership: The vote is secret and Members sometimes lie about their intentions. But Lott's public support this week has come from important quarters, and many pointed to Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), the only minority in the chamber, as a key symbolic backer of Lott's. Other key allies include incoming Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), incoming Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and incoming Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Richard Shelby(R-Ala.). Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the chamber's senior GOPmoderate, is squarely behind Lott, as is Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the incoming chairman of Health, Education, Labor, Pensions. "Just watch the chairmen," a Lott adviser said. Some GOP lobbyists on K Street said the chairmen have a vested interest in keeping Lott as leader, out of fear that his ouster would lead to his outright resignation and a replacement appointed by Democratic Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. That would leave the Senate, at least until a special election is held, at 50-50. No group of Republicans was more displeased with the 50-50 divide at the start of the 107th Congress - and the resulting power-sharing deal - than the GOPchairmen. The top aide to one Old Bull supporting Lott denied that he was using a retirement threat to get the chairmen's votes. Lott reiterated Wednesday his plans to serve the remaining four years of his term. One GOPSenator who has spoken with Lott, Nickles and other top Republicans said he had heard discussions of offering Lott a "soft landing," such as the chairmanship of one of the major Senate panels. "People are searching for a way that Trent and his family can come out of this with some dignity," he said. But Lott has given no indication that he would accept such a deal, and he currently only serves on two committees with any level of prominence: Finance and Commerce, Science and Transportation. Most aides and observers say it's implausible to expect incoming Finance Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) - whose 20-year journey toward the top of that committee resulted in just five months of power before the GOP lost its majority in June 2001 - to give up his gavel. And incoming Commerce Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) already has enough of a testy relationship with Senate Republican leaders and the White House without having his gavel pulled away from him. To some degree, aides agree, Lott's defiant stance in refusing to resign as leader is an attempt to call the bluff of Nickles, who has long been critical of Lott's stewardship and aspires to be leader, and other Senators who want to oust Lott. Sen. Bill Frist (Tenn.)is the other Republican most often mentioned as a replacement, but Frist has only sent mixed signals of his interest. With no official opponent, Lott isn't even asking Senators for their vote. "He didn't ask me to do anything," said one Senator, who has not made any decision on whether to call for Lott's ouster. "He's trying to find out what he needs to do to right this ship." This Senator has also talked to Nickles and the man set to replace Nickles as GOP Whip, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), within the past two days. The Oklahoma Republican did not seek any declaration of support, but instead asked the Senator to consider whether Lott "could still be an effective leader." McConnell pressed the Senator to back Lott, although this lawmaker predicted that McConnell himself would also run for Republican leader if Lott stepped down. John Bresnahan contributed to this report. |
