Frist Elected as New US Senate Republican Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 24, 2002

Frist Elected as New US Senate Republican Leader

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US Republican Senator Bill Frist became the first Senate majority leader elected over the telephone on Monday, an unusual end to a two-week political firestorm that brought down former leader Trent Lott.

Frist was elected during an unprecedented conference call amongmost of the 51-member Senate Republican Caucus, local media reports said. The 50-year-old wealthy heart surgeon will become Senate majority leader when the Republicans take control of the chamber in January.

The election was originally scheduled for Jan. 6 when all senators return to Washington to prepare for the new congressionalsession, but several Republican senators wanted to put Lott's controversy behind them as quickly as possible.

With senators scattered around the country for the holidays, a telephone conference was the only way for the elections.

Lott gave up his leadership post in the Senate on Friday amid mounting pressures from both parties in Congress and the public following his racist remarks at retiring Senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party two weeks ago.

At the birthday party on Dec. 5, Lott said the country would have been better off if people had elected Thurmond more than 50 years ago when he ran for presidency on a segregationist platform.

His remarks triggered strong criticism from Democrats as well as civil rights groups, who called for his resignation from his leadership post. Lott made a series of increasingly expansive apologies in an failed attempt to quell the firestorm.

After President George W. Bush publicly condemned Lott's remarks as "offensive" and "wrong," some Republican Senators went out to urge Lott's resignation. Frist, a close ally of Bush, was the only candidate who publicly sought to replace Lott as Senate Republican leader.

Frist's first task will be to heal the Republican Party's wounds, old and new, racial and non-racial, analysts say. His second task will be to lead a wildly unpredictable and bitterly divided Senate.

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