NICKLES PLUGS LOTT
Things were moving fast and furious on Monday on Capitol Hill and
around the country as Republicans attempted to get a handle on
exactly how to play out the Trent Lott/leadership
soap opera. Things got off to a rousing start when CNN reported
mid-morning that Sen. Bill Frist had thrown his
support behind Sen. Don Nickles, who on Sunday was
the first GOP Senate caucus member to call for a new election for
leaders.
Quickly, CNN retracted the report, although it’s unclear why.
“It was a misunderstanding of what Frist actually said,” says a CNN
Washington staffer.
Perhaps the confusion is because Frist, who is also mentioned as
a possible leader candidate, is on record as supporting elections
and a possible change in leadership. No more, no less.
Conservatives in Washington were somewhat surprised that it was
Nickles taking the lead over the weekend. He is someone who has
played the political game cautiously throughout his career, and who
went out of his way to be deferential to Lott’s leadership while
serving as his No. 2. Despite the fact that he was term limited as
Republican Whip, and a number of conservatives hoped he might
challenge Lott in the recent leadership elections, Nickles chose
not to do so.
“It’s surprising in a way,” says a prominent conservative in
Washington. “But with Nickles, the timing has never been right.
He’s always played by the rules and understood his place when it
comes to leadership. This unfortunate mess has presented him with
really the first opportunity to make a play if he wants it.”
The operative word is “if.” Nickles, despite media spin, has not
stated definitively that he will challenge Lott should things come
to that. Monday it was very clear from his comments when read in
full, and without spin from Lott backers and media suckups, that
Nickles was not pushing for a caucus vote for himself. Rather, he
was calling on the caucus to do the right thing for itself and the
national party.
It also wasn’t clear that Nickles was sticking his neck out for
someone else — despite what the Washington Post was
reporting in Monday editions. Under that scenario, Nickles was
doing heavy lifting for Sen. Mitch McConnell or
Frist, both of whom, some analysts think, might not be positioned
or want to be positioned to alienate potential votes inside the
caucus.
But those in the know with Nickles say the senator wasn’t doing
anyone’s dirty work. Rather, he was simply doing what was best for
the GOP. “When everything is said and done, people today might be
mad at Nickles for taking the first swipe at Lott, but history will
show he did the right thing,” says a staffer for a Western state
Republican senator. “Someone had to get the ball rolling, as
distasteful as it may be. There is a political component here that
had to be addressed by the caucus. We all know Lott is a good man,
honorable. But we’re standing on quicksand now, and if we didn’t do
something, we’d be stuck in the muck for two years. There is always
the chance that Lott could survive, but he will do so because the
caucus met.”
Going into Monday night, it seemed Lott’s survival would depend
on a superb performance on Black Entertainment Television, and then
several news cycles with little or no coverage over the Christmas
holidays. That combination perhaps would allow Lott to enter the
January 6th caucus meeting with a stronger hand than he currently
holds. It’s that possibility that has kept many Republican senators
on the fence thus far.
“Lott is still leader, he’s still got a lot of influence up
here, and there are still a lot of people on Capitol Hill, in the
Senate, who think he can survive this thing. No one, not other
senators, not staffers, wants to be so far out on the limb that
Lott can saw them off if he holds on,” says a Republican Senate
staffer.
Early reviews of his Monday appearance on BET were not good. He
was evasive on several questions, including his position on the
Martin Luther King holiday, and would not cite
issues besides segregation that might have given Southerners in
1948 reason to support Strom Thurmond’s
presidential run.
As a result, expect to hear rumblings that Republicans are
trying to move up the caucus meeting date, perhaps pre-Christmas.
Such a plan, from a coordination standpoint, would be difficult:
few Senators are currently in Washington and fewer want to return
for what is sure to be one of the most contentious caucus meetings
in recent history. Several things appear certain, however:
• Despite all of the talk of Frist, Nickles and McConnell,
there almost certainly is a darkhorse candidate who will further
cloud the picture if Lott’s situation deteriorates in the next
couple of days.
• At least one pundit — Larry King,
anyone? — will utter the name John McCain as a
prospective leadership candidate.
• Rhode Island moderate Republican Lincoln
Chafee is feeling awfully cushy in the cat bird seat right
now as both parties go out of their way to prove that they are his
new best friend. Should Lott decide he wants nothing to do with the
Senate once this ordeal is over, Chafee is suddenly the swing vote
for majority control.
KING PUTZ
Speaking of Larry King, the CNN host had an
opportunity to do a live show Monday evening that might have
included an appearance with Trent Lott. Instead,
King bypassed that opportunity to tape an interview with
Ann Richards, former governor of Texas.
King opened the show by telling viewers that the show was being
taped prior to Trent Lott’s appearance on Black
Entertainment Television and therefore would not include any
breaking news on the Lott situation. But King’s first question to
Richards had been agreed upon and dealt with Lott, allowing
Richards to lay out a broadside against the Republican Party. At no
point during the day did King or his producers discuss providing
Republicans with an opportunity to rebut.
