Frist Among Equals

Even some Republicans are prepared to test how much compassion Frist and Bush want to restore. Before the Lott fiasco, Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine couldn't get his G.O.P. colleagues interested in a measure he co-sponsored with Senator Hillary Clinton that would force pharmaceutical companies to test new drugs for their effects on children. DeWine hopes to get a better reception this year. "It's the type of legislation," he argues, "that shows we're a caring party."

Frist would do well to follow that old congressional rule: Watch out for your friends in politics; they'll make more trouble for you than your enemies. The 51 Republicans in the Senate are about as unified as a Balkan parliament. Moderates like Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee are always in danger of defecting to the Democrats. Mavericks like Senator John McCain will constantly stray off message. Though Frist's voting record is practically identical to Lott's, conservatives distrust him as a latecomer to their causes. Emboldened by G.O.P. control of both houses and the fact that Jan. 22 marks the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, antiabortion activists want to move quickly to pass new restrictions on the procedure. Frist would rather defer that kind of bitter fight with Democrats until later, but if he angers conservatives, retribution "will be pretty swift and fairly severe," warns Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank. It was conservatives critical of Lott's statements "who really drove him from office," Weyrich maintains. "Frist needs to understand that."

The White House wanted Frist as majority leader because it thinks it can control him better than it did Lott. But any sign of manipulation could backfire. "The Senate is very jealous of its independence," explains a G.O.P. Senator. "They don't want the White House kicking them around." Frist faces a balky group of G.O.P. committee chairmen. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, a Lott ally who chairs the Appropriations Committee, may move slower on spending bills and lard them with more pork than Frist or Bush wants. Oklahoma Senator Don Nickles, who has long lusted after the majority leader's job and heads the Budget Committee, can be expected to push for bigger tax cuts than the White House believes are palatable. Another Lott ally, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who is third in rank and chairs the Senate Republican Conference, flirted briefly with the idea of challenging Frist for the majority leader's job. To run the floor, Frist will have to rely heavily on his whip, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who has more legislative experience. But that holds risks for Frist. "McConnell will pursue his own agenda. Mitch is very clever, and he's very smart. And he's not a guy to allow a vacuum of power to exist," says a Republican Senator. McConnell tells TIME, "I have no separate agenda; we're going to work as a team."

Frist's gentle operating style won't necessarily help him. "Bill's the kind of guy that you never know where he is on everything," says a G.O.P. Senator. "He never likes to alienate anybody. But a Senate leader has to lead, and he has to be pretty direct and tough on people." Just as problematic is the fact that Frist is considering a run for the presidency in 2008, presumably after Bush finishes his second term. No majority leader has held down that job and run successfully.

Frist does have his protectors in the Senate, most notably two Virginians. The state's senior Republican Senator, John Warner, persuaded Senate barons to back Frist when he challenged Lott, then talked junior Senator George Allen into working on the young conservatives. Warner is angling to be Frist's godfather behind the scenes. Allen is more conservative and unpredictable, but as new head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (Frist's old post), he can be expected to stick with his new leader.

In the end, the survival instinct may be the glue that holds Republicans together behind Frist. Bush told voters in November that if they put Republicans in charge of both houses, he would heal the economy and improve health care and education. Those promises could be hard to keep if he wages an expensive war with Iraq. "We're going to have to produce," says Nebraska G.O.P. Senator Chuck Hagel. "If we don't, Republicans are going to get hit hard the next two years." If that happens, having a doctor on call may not be enough.