Dec 26, 2002 2 min read

His Republican colleagues have elevated Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist to a job that has been likened to herding cats. He is the new Senate majority leader, and there will be days when he has second thoughts about that high honor. By virtue of his new position, he becomes one of the GOP’s most visible spokesmen and is automatically on the short list of 2008 presidential candidates. The Republican senators had barely finished naming him to replace Trent Lott than Frist was already being mentioned as a potential successor should Vice President Cheney choose not to run again.

Frist, 50, is a popular choice; that’s why Senate Republicans, even his ambitious rivals, closed ranks behind him so quickly once it became clear that Lott’s musings about segregation had made his continued tenure impossible.

Frist appears to have that mix of forcefulness and collegiality that good legislative leaders need, and he has fresh political capital as one of the architects of the Republicans’ recapture of the Senate.

But Frist faces no easy task and not solely because he has a one-vote majority to work with.

The White House, never completely happy with Lott, worked backstage to install Frist as majority leader, and now he must establish himself as his own man. For all the talk of unity, the agenda of the Senate Republicans is not identical to the president’s, particularly on spending, and the Senate can be thorny about its prerogatives.

He must erase the impression left by Lott that the Republicans are two-faced on racial issues.

One of his first orders of business come Jan. 7 will be to wrap up the fiscal 2003 budget that the previous Congress left unfinished. And the president has promised an ambitious legislative agenda for next year – tax cuts, economic stimulus, prescription drug benefits – plus programs, like the energy bill and faith-based initiatives, left over from this year.

For all the celebrity of Frist’s new job, the consuming day-to-day duties make it a difficult post to advance from.

Robert Dole felt he had to step down as Senate leader to run for president, and the last majority leader to reach the White House was Lyndon Johnson.

The spotlight is now well and truly on Bill Frist.