The American Spectator

br> Speculation continues up on Capitol Hill on what leadership role, if any, Sen. Trent Lott will fill. On Monday, leading into the vote to elect Sen. Bill Frist Majority Leader, the spin was that Lott would be getting no committee chairmanship for all his trouble. Unnamed sources were quoted in the press as saying that Lott’s window of opportunity to cut such a deal was closed. /p>

But according to several Lott loyalists, he’s still focused on gaining some kind of position. Keep in mind, he currently holds a seat on the powerful Finance Committee, which for just about anyone else, would be enough. One potential chairmanship he now is said to be eyeing is the Senate Rules Committee, currently chaired by Pennsylvania’s Sen. Rick Santorum. Previous rumors had Lott circling the Energy Committee, where Pete Domenici now controls the chairmanship and Budget, where Lott’s old rival Don Nickles, is slated to take over. On all three committees, Lott isn’t thought to have a chance.

The White House, which suddenly is taking a very proactive approach to its dealings in the Senate, does not want Lott on Budget, where he would have to work with both the Bush Administration and Democrats. “You saw how fast he sold the Senate Republicans down the river to save his job,” says a White House legislative liaison staffer. “Can you imagine the kind of deals he’d cut on Budget?”

p>The same reasoning holds for Rules, where prior to the Lott debacle, Republicans were said to be holding tight to demands that Democrats not get an even close to equitable shares of staff levels and budgets on committees. Again, there would concerns about Lott’s ability to stand firm on conservative, Republican policy and game plan. br> /p>