GOP To Vote On Lott's Fate

Republican senators are planning to meet next month to decide whether Trent Lott will remain as their leader. The new vote will take place on Jan. 6, one day before the Senate returns to session under GOP control.

The decision comes amid signs of weakening support for Lott from his Republican colleagues and the White House.

President Bush's top spokesman criticized Lott anew on Monday, and a key GOP senator issued a statement that pointedly refrained from saying Lott should remain as leader.

No party leader has ever been voted out of his job in the Senate, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss.

Lott, for his part, was spending the day preparing to make a televised defense of his racially charged remarks to black Americans.

The Mississippi senator was to be interviewed on Black Entertainment Television for 30 minutes Monday night. Spokesman Ron Bonjean said the appearance was "to discuss the serious issues of diversity, opportunity and race in America."

Among the issues to be discussed in the BET interview will certainly be Lott's comments at a Dec. 5 100th birthday party for departing South Carolina Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond, at which Lott appeared to regret that Americans had not elected Thurmond on a segregationist ticket in 1948.

Saying he had been proud to support Thurmond's 1948 run, Lott added: "And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."

Lott has since been buffeted by criticism from blacks, Democrats and even his GOP brethren.

The official silence at White House over the Senate Republican maneuvering is a strong indication that Lott can't expect any cover from the president, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter Maer. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer refused several times Monday to defend Lott's position as Senate leader and called the remarks that got Lott in trouble "offensive and repugnant."

In another indication of Lott's fading at the White House, the Washington Post reports that Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condeleeza Rice, both African Americans, rebuffed requests by Lott to issue statements defending him.

Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, who chaired the GOP campaign effort over the past two years, also refused to voice support for Lott's leadership. "My Republican colleagues and I are actively engaged in deciding what is in the best interests of the Senate as an institution and the country," said Frist.

"I am confident a consensus will emerge, but no decisions have been made yet," Frist said, "and I have endorsed no specific proposal at this time."

A few Republicans, including Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, called over the weekend for a meeting of the rank-and-file to consider Lott's fate. Nickles said new elections should be held.

Sentiment for a meeting grew Monday, when Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., issued a statement endorsing the idea.

"It is not fair for us to leave the Sen. Lott's future as Senate majority leader uncertain, nor is it helpful to let the issue go unresolved," Burns said in a statement. "There needs to be some closure very soon."

Sens. John Warner of Virginia and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska also said they supported a hurry-up meeting in view of the Lott controversy.

The furor has brought other potentially damaging aspects of Lott's past to the surface: earlier statements made by him, suggestions of support for a conservative white citizens group, court filings on behalf of Bob Jones University, opposition to the Voting Rights Act, doubts about whether Martin Luther King, Jr. deserved a holiday, and even his efforts as a college student to keep his fraternity all-white.

Lott has apologized numerous times, most recently on Friday evening. He called his statements on Thurmond "a poor choice of words" and denied he favors segregation. That has not stemmed the criticism.

Mr. Bush criticized Lott's comments last week, and senior political aides have privately expressed concern about the impact of the controversy on the president's efforts to increase support among black voters.

Other Republicans continued to support the Senate leader.

"I think he's going to continue to lead us, and I think he can be very effective as our leader in the Senate," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told said in a broadcast interview. McConnell, recently elected to succeed Nickles as GOP whip, said, "I think he enjoys the confidence of our" rank and file, as well.

BET and CBS are owned by the same parent company, Viacom.