Word: lott
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...past few years he has earned the ire of some peers who fault him for failing to advance the conservative agenda while bringing home favors for his constituents. (Lott is such a renowned pork barreler that employees at Raytheon Co. in Forest, Miss., once serenaded him with a song of gratitude for landing them more than $72 million in defense appropriations.) The grumbling has become so strong that some on the right have begun to encourage the more zealous Don Nickles to challenge Lott's leadership...
When he first won a seat as a Congressman from Mississippi at 31, Lott was more ideologue than pragmatist, joining up with Newt Gingrich and Jack Kemp to push an agenda of deregulation and tax cuts. But as he rose through the leadership ranks, first in the House and then in the Senate, Lott mellowed, earning a reputation as a tough negotiator willing to make sacrifices in order to get things done. When he became majority leader in 1996, Lott reached out to moderate Democrats and the White House, efforts that led to the smooth passage of welfare reform...
...Lott says he's not worried, and he's already aiming to work more closely with the Democrats. "You have to deal with the reality of what you can get done," he said in an interview with TIME last Friday. "When I first came to Congress, my attitude was, Give me the whole loaf or I want nothing. Now if I can get four or five slices, I'll take that...
...facing the most divided Senate of his career, his polite but dogged approach could be even more vital. Over the past six years, Daschle has perfected a delicate dance, appearing at once a party loyalist and a diplomat. He has developed an unusually collegial relationship with Republican leader Trent Lott. Even during the mortifying impeachment crisis, for example, Daschle corralled the Democrats behind Clinton while still criticizing the White House's "legal hairsplitting," a term generally wielded by Republicans...
Some of that collegiality evaporated during this heated election year, as Lott and Daschle clashed publicly on the floor of the Senate. "It's the least productive, most frustrating Congress that I have experienced," Daschle complained last month. Of course, it may be nothing compared with what he will face if the Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Anticipating that possibility, Daschle last week proposed a brazenly optimistic power-sharing plan in which both parties would co-chair committees...