Frist Among Equals

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THE NEW YEAR'S DAY ACCIDENT WAS terrible. A rear tire blew out on the Isuzu SUV as it traveled on Florida's "Alligator Alley" west of Fort Lauderdale, flipping the vehicle and hurling several members of a family onto the highway. A girl perished on the highway; her brother would die hours later. Medical personnel who happened to be in the surrounding cars rushed to the rescue of the other victims. A physician helped clear the windpipe of a woman and resuscitate two of the other injured, staying long enough to direct the arriving paramedics to those who most needed help. Only after he left did anyone realize that the doctor was Bill Frist, incoming majority leader of the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Frist, who doesn't mind his colleagues' addressing him that way instead of as "Senator," keeps a black medical bag in his legislative office and has shown a penchant for coming to the rescue. The Tennessee lawmaker treated victims of a gunman who opened fire in the U.S. Capitol in 1998, and in 2001 came to the aid of Strom Thurmond when the Senator, then 98, collapsed on the Senate floor. But now, Frist, 50, is beginning a different kind of rescue mission, one that he may not be fully equipped to handle. Congress starts a new session this week, and the patient before Frist is his own party, still reeling from the Trent Lott debacle.

Desperate to expunge memories of the racially insensitive remarks Lott uttered at Thurmond's 100th-birthday bash on Dec. 5, Republicans selected Frist as their new majority leader on Dec. 23, hoping the surgeon could reattach "compassionate" to "conservatism." George W. Bush, who nudged Lott out and Frist in, has similar expectations. But the President also wants to move quickly on tax cuts and Republican-oriented Medicare reform. And Frist is the least experienced Senator ever to assume the majority leader's job.

Frist concedes that he is starting from scratch. He has been on the phone to former Republican majority leaders Howard Baker and Bob Dole, asking for advice, and has been receiving tutorials in floor procedures from G.O.P. staff members. None of his decisions, not even the small ones, will be easy. Lott, for example, had already selected the 100 or so staff members a majority leader is allotted to manage the Senate, many among the Capitol's most skilled in moving legislation. Does Frist keep some of them to get the fast start Republicans originally wanted on their bills, even though their first loyalty was to the boss he deposed? To ease the humiliation of the coup for Lott, Frist plans to give him chairmanship of the Rules and Administration Committee. Though it is an inconsequential post, Lott may use it to make some noise. "I have the experience and the background to be very much a player," Lott told the Associated Press. Other Lott allies who question whether Frist has the seasoning for the job expect to be players too.