DR. CLEAN
Democrats won’t be caught flat-footed with new Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, several days after the
Republican victory in the November elections, Democratic National
Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and others in
the party authorized an intensive opposition research report on
Frist. “It was obvious then that he was going to be a national
political figure for the party,” says a DNC staffer. “No one could
have anticipated what has just happened, but we’re certain there is
stuff in his past we’ll be able to dig up.”
Of most interest to the DNC are Frist’s financials. Before
arriving in Washington, he helped run his family’s HMO business,
and was considered a savvy businessman along with being a superb
physician. “There is some real concern here, though, that he’s a
Mr. Clean type,” says the Democratic Party operative.
Initial reports out of Tennessee would appear to confirm their
fears. “There isn’t much, so far,” says staffer for the state
Democratic Party in Tennessee. “He was a physician and businessman,
so you’d assume there were some court cases, a really ugly
malpractice case or problems with the business, but it just isn’t
there. We’ve looked.”
Republicans weren’t about to be blindsided, either. Both the RNC
and the White House have checked out Frist over the past few months
as his profile in the Senate continued to rise. “There isn’t
anything there,” says an RNC staffer. “You know the Democrats are
going to be picking through his medical background for the health
care reform fight, but at this point, they’d be morons to tear this
guy down. A year from now, the country is going to be clamoring for
him to be vice president.”
Frist went into Monday’s vote understanding full well what he
was getting into. According to Senate sources, Frist spoke
extensively with his caucus colleagues, including several long
sessions with Sen. Don Nickles, about whether he
was up to the challenge of a post-Lott leadership post.
“The environment isn’t as poisoned as you might think,” says a
Republican Senate staffer. “A week ago, things looked bleak. Today,
things don’t appear so bad, we’re thinking that with the holidays
and other stuff going on around the world we’re almost back to
where we were after the elections.”
A FILL OF LOTT
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.
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?”
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.
