Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona is not seeking reelection. He is currently the Minority Whip of the Senate, which means he holds the second highest position among Republicans in the higher chamber. His retirement creates a vacancy in the Republican leadership, which would naturally be filled by the next in line. That happens to be Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who currently serves as the Senate Republican Conference chairman. But, surprisingly, Sen. Alexander announced that he not only will not seek the job of Minority (or, potentially, Majority) Whip, he won’t stand for any leadership position in the next Congress. He says that he just wants to go back to being a regular senator and to work on cutting deals. But he may have realized that he’d lose out in his bid for a promotion to National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
Sen. Cornyn presided over a successful 2010 campaign which saw the Republican severely whittle down the Democrats’ advantage in the Senate, and he is heading their Senate campaign again in next year’s cycle. So, he has a lot of built-up support. But he’s also a lot more conservative than Alexander. With Alexander’s decision, Cornyn is almost assured of becoming the GOP’s Number Two, and he will be instantly pencilled in as Mitch McConnell’s heir-apparent. Before too long, we could be looking at a Majority Leader Cornyn. Are you ready for that?
I don’t think McConnell is going anywhere anytime soon, and my guess is that he’s a far more effective leader than Cornyn.
McConnell says he’s running for reelection, but he might find that he has a Rand Paul problem. After all, McConnell’s choice to replace Bunning was defeated by Paul. He could retire. He could lose a primary or the general. Or he could get sick.
You may be right, but I think McConnell is too clever to be the next Bob Bennett, and that the Tea Party will have a lot less mojo in 2012.
McConnell isn’t up reelection until 2014. So, barring illness or scandal, we won’t see Cornyn in charge until the middle of the decade, at a minimum.
eh, maybe if Texas demographics keep moving the right way, Cornyn might be the one not around.
One can hope.
Good point.
Ummm, I think MINORITY (NOT Majority) Leader Cornyn could be acceptable. But to just give up the Senate at this point and assume we’ll be ruled by Republicans is unacceptable to me.
If that is really what the future holds, we really should be looking to emigrate to kinder countries. But until we reach that bridge, let’s all fight to keep the Senate, okay?