Lott gets second chance to impress as Senate leader

The smooth-talking Mississippi Republican hopes to learn from his mistakes.

Mississippi Republican Trent Lott this week regained the title of United States Senate majority leader, 18 months after the humiliating defection from his ranks that handed control to the Democrats.

With last week's congressional election again giving the Republicans the majority of Senate seats, the smooth-talking former University of Mississippi cheerleader was chosen majority leader on Wednesday again when Congress convened for a post-election session.

Mr Lott (61) campaigned hard for fellow Republicans to regain the Senate majority they lost in May 2001 when Vermont senator James Jeffords quit the party to become an independent, giving Democrats a one-seat advantage.

"I'm getting a second chance to do this job. I hope I will do it ... better than last time and learn from those experiences," Mr Lott said at a news conference on Wednesday.

He said his role this time will be different as a fellow Republican, President George W. Bush, is in the White House instead of Democrat Mr Bill Clinton. "I'll be more in a positive, in an offensive mode. I hope that that suits my personality better."

Sen Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the assistant Republican leader seen as Mr Lott's top rival, dropped out of the leader's race last month after Mr Lott said he had votes lined up to keep the job.

Mr Lott's return to the majority leader's slot appeared unlikely a year and a half ago when Mr Jeffords abruptly left the party, leaving Republicans bitterly pointing fingers over who was to blame for the high-stakes defection.

Mr Jeffords said he bolted because he increasingly disagreed with the party and sided with Democrats. But lawmakers quietly questioned whether Mr Lott failed to read Mr Jeffords' signals of dissatisfaction, letting Democrats lure away the taciturn lifelong moderate Republican without a fight.

Still, with Republicans struggling for unity, no one launched a serious challenge to Mr Lott's leadership and he slipped into the less glamorous role of minority leader.

He became a terrier nipping at the heels of his successor, Sen Tom Daschle of South Dakota, accusing Democrats of bowing to "special interests" by derailing Republican-backed legislation and blocking Mr Bush's judicial nominees. He staged events such as bringing big, drooling bloodhounds into a room off the Senate floor to "hunt" for the federal budget plan that Democrats failed to pass, and held nearly daily news briefings to put his spin on why legislation passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives was dying on the Senate floor.

"I think being in the minority helped him. He hasn't had to be as beholden to moderates as when he was majority leader. He was much more energised about their (Republicans') rights in the minority," said Mr Tripp Baird, the Heritage Foundation's director of Senate relations and a former Lott staffer.

Since under Senate rules it takes 60 votes to move most legislation, Mr Lott's criticisms of Mr Daschle may come back to haunt him as the Senate will likely remain the place where a sizable share of Republican legislation dies.

Mr Baird said Mr Lott should be able to pass enough for a successful year, including measures to create a Department of Homeland Security, expansion of federal support for social services provided through faith-based institutions, budget bills that hold down spending and clearing of many stalled federal judge nominations.

Although he is strongly conservative, Mr Lott gets high marks for listening to moderates and consulting with all of his caucus. Instead of blaming Mr Lott, many lawmakers attributed Jeffords' defection to high-handed treatment from the Bush White House.

Mississippi's junior US senator since 1989, Mr Lott has been the Senate Republican leader since 1996.

He was the youngest member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974, defending President Richard Nixon, when it passed articles of impeachment over Watergate.

After moving to the Senate, Mr Lott by one vote won the job of deputy majority leader under Mr Robert Dole of Kansas in 1995. He was elected to the top post the following year when Mr Dole left the Senate for his failed presidential bid.

Born on October 9th, 1941, Mr Lott grew up in modest circumstances in Mississippi. He graduated from the University of Mississippi Law School and studied international law at the University of Dublin. He and his wife, Patricia, have two children. - (Reuters)