
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994                   TAG: 9412060023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

SENATE NUDGED TO RIGHT

Senate Republicans formally installed Kansas Sen. Bob Dole as majority leader Friday but dumped Dole's chief deputy in favor of an aggressive Southern conservative.

Democrats selected Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota as their minority leader. A protege of retiring Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine, Daschle defeated a more outspoken senator, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, 24-23, for the post.

Reflecting the Republican Party's emerging demographics, Southern GOP conservatives now control all of the party's important leadership posts in Congress except one, Dole's.

Palace intrigue swirled around the Republican battle for majority whip, the assistant leadership position. The race pitted Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi against Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming.

Lott won, 27-26.

Some viewed the secret-ballot vote as the first battle between Dole and Texas Sen. Phil Gramm for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, because Lott has close ties with Gramm.

Lott, who was the Republican whip when he served in the House, said there would not be a major philosophical change within the leadership.

The majority whip, responsible for garnering votes on bills, will assume great importance if Dole chooses to run for president in 1996, because he would become the de facto leader in Dole's absence.

Dole acknowledged the setback with a quip, ``I can always adjourn the Senate.''

Simpson has served 10 years as whip under Dole. He is viewed as more moderate than Lott on social issues such as abortion rights.

With his election as Senate Democratic leader, Daschle, 46, capped a rapid rise to power after only eight years in the Senate. His one-vote victory signals divisions within the Democratic caucus over how to respond to the Republican majority. Daschle is viewed as more moderating, Dodd as more combative.

``We will judge all proposals, whether they come from the president or from our Republican colleagues, by the test of how well they serve the interests of working people and their families,'' Daschle said.

Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky., was elected minority whip. Ford was Mitchell's assistant leader when the Democrats controlled the Senate.

by CNB