McConnell Set To Be Senate Minority Leader

When the new Senate convenes in January, the minority leader will likely be a Kentucky Republican whose killer political instinct once earned him the nickname "Darth Vader."

Mitch McConnell, who currently holds the No. 2 position of whip in the Senate GOP hierarchy, has a reputation of being a shrewd strategist but is best known for his fierce opposition to campaign finance reform.

Republican senators, who lost control of the Senate on Election Day, are to pick their leaders on Nov. 15. McConnell is running unopposed for minority leader. He would succeed retiring Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, who was catapulted into the majority leader's job in 2002 when Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi was ousted from it for commenting favorably about the late Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist past.

In contrast to Frist, McConnell has held numerous positions that have prepped him for his new job. In addition to serving as whip, he has chaired the committee that sets Senate rules as well as the committee that recruits and finances GOP Senate candidates.

"In terms of the skills he would bring to the Republican leadership, I think he has greater institutional experience than Bill First," said McConnell's counterpart on the other side of the political aisle, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Half of a Washington power couple, McConnell, 64, is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett, a close friend of McConnell, said the Kentucky Republican has been methodically laying the groundwork for becoming his party's leader.

"Brick by brick, he built a firewall. So whenever somebody decided they wanted to run, all we had to do was sit down and say to them, 'This is what you're going to have to deal with,"' Bennett said. "One by one, potential opponents said, 'Wait a minute, I don't want to run and lose."'

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, McConnell's counterpart on an appropriations committee that funds foreign aid programs, said McConnell was a tough opponent and a trustworthy negotiator.

"We're both very much old school in that if you give your word on something, that's all it takes," Leahy said.

In a recent interview, McConnell said his toughest call as GOP whip was having to ask Vice President Dick Cheney to come back from Afghanistan to break an anticipated tie on a budget vote.

"I said, 'This is gonna be 50-50, and it wouldn't be a great idea for you to be in Afghanistan and for us to lose.' And he was here, and it was 50-50, and we didn't' lose," McConnell said, smiling.

McConnell's efforts to block legislation limiting money in campaigns prompted rivals in the 1990s to label him Darth Vader after the "Star Wars" villain. His success in beating back opposition to campaign finance reform legislation ended in 2002 when Congress eventually rewrote the way campaigns are funded.

A skilled fundraiser, McConnell argues that limiting money in campaigns is akin to limiting political speech. His critics accuse him of protecting special interests such as the horse racing and tobacco industries, which have ties to his state and are among his campaign donors.

McConnell has strengthened the Republican Party in Kentucky by doling out advice, money and staff to candidates.

Kentucky state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, who challenged Republican Sen. Jim Bunning in 2004, said McConnell helped Kentucky's junior senator hang on to his seat by helping orchestrate a harsh campaign.

"He is a master of the negative campaign. He knows how to win elections. He knows it takes money and he knows that with enough money you can make your opponent look as bad as you need to," Mongiardo said of McConnell.

McConnell won his Senate seat in 1984 by launching a fierce challenge to Democratic incumbent Walter Huddleston. To make the point that Huddleston was out of sight and out of touch, McConnell ran tough ads showing bloodhounds searching for Huddleston.