can caucus selected Lott to be the party's new whip, their No. 2 job in the chamber, as they sought to regroup with new leaders after last week's elections brought Democrats back into control of the U.S. Congress.Lott will replace Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was elevated to the top job, Senate Republican leader, succeeding retiring Bill Frist of Tennessee, for the 110th Congress set to convene in January. "We want to work with the Democrats. Our preference is to accomplish things rather than block things," McConnell told reporters after the party's secret balloting.
In returning to leadership, Lott brushed off questions from reporters. Standing beside McConnell, he said: "The spotlight belongs on him."
Lott had been viewed as an effective Republican leader, one who was able to rally his colleagues and skillfully use the chamber's rules to move or stop legislation. Lott was also seen as an articulate speaker, at least until December 2004 when he made a racially charged remark in a 100th birthday salute to then retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a former segregationist who ran for president in 1948.