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Subject: Nearly All Top Leaders Reelected in the Senate; Gramm Survives by 1<By Helen
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 04:42:03 EST
Message-ID: <6.1992Nov11.044204@AmeriCast.com>

Nearly All Top Leaders Reelected in the Senate; Gramm Survives by
1<By Helen Dewar=Washington Post Staff Writer=

The Senate demonstrated yesterday that change has its limits as
Democrats and Republicans reelected nearly all their top leaders,
including GOP campaign chairman Phil Gramm (Tex.), who won by a
single vote after a dispute centering on his presidential ambi-
tions.

By a vote of 20 to 19, after a bitter fight, Gramm turned back a
challenge by Sen.  Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who questioned whether
Gramm should be in charge of senatorial races at a time when he
is mounting his own campaign for the Republican presidential nom-
ination in 1996.

McConnell continued to press his point even after losing, con-
tending in an interview that the closely divided caucus had sent
a "message that it would prefer that these (presidential and
senatorial) activities not go on simultaneously." Senatorial can-
didates will suffer if contributors fear they might be helping
the cause of a presidential candidate they oppose, he warned.

Gramm's race was not the only one in which the Senate found com-
fort in the status quo at its highest levels.

Only a day after 11 newly elected senators proclaimed a new day
in the Senate - and on the day Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was
sworn in to fill out the remainder of the term to which Gov. Pete
Wilson (R) was elected in 1988 - Democrats reelected Majority
Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) and their other leaders
without opposition. Republicans returned Minority Leader Robert
J. Dole (R-Kan.) and his chief lieutenants to power despite
several contests.

In the only contested race for the top two positions in both par-
ties, Republican Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) turned back a
challenge by Sen. Slade Gorton (Wash.) for the second-ranking
Republican leadership post, winning the contest by a vote of 25
to 14.

After winning, Simpson spoke of "building bridges" between Repub-
lican conservatives and moderates, a theme echoed by others in
the leadership on both sides of the party's often contentious
ideological divide.  While failing to dislodge Dole or Simpson,
Republican conservatives again demonstrated their clout in
lower-echelon leadership contests when Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.)
won a three-way race to succeed defeated Sen. Robert W. Kasten
Jr. (Wis.) as secretary of the GOP conference. Lott got 20 votes,
one more than the combined total of 14 won by Christopher S. Bond
(Mo.) and 5 won by Frank H. Murkowski (Alaska). Two years ago,
conservatives won all leadership posts below those of Dole and
Simpson.

Lott, who was elected to the Senate in 1988, played  down the im-
portance of ideology, stressing instead what he described as a
generational shift and his hopes of serving, as he did earlier in
the House GOP leadership, as a "bridge between the Old Bulls and
Young Turks."

Asked why the Senate leadership remains exclusively white male
despite the election of more women and minorities in last week's
elections, Mitchell said three appointive offices - including
that of Democratic campaign chairman - will not be permanently
filled until early next year.

Sources said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and one or more of
the new female members are under consideration for appointive
Democratic positions, although Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) is be-
lieved to be a leading contender for the campaign post. Sen.
Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), the current campaign chairman, is ineli-
gible for reappointment because he is up for reelection in 1994.

The only new member of the Democratic leadership elected yester-
day was Sen. John B. Breaux (La.), chosen to succeed defeated
Sen. Alan Dixon (Ill.) as deputy Democratic whip.<02:06 11-
11C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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