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Frist majority leader

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   http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-12-23-frist-usat_x.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-12-23-frist-usat_x.htm

The Frist file
Age: 50; born Feb. 22, 1952, in Nashville
Education: Princeton, B.A., 1974; Harvard, M.D., 1978
Occupation: Heart and lung transplant surgeon; performed more than 200 transplants
Politics: First voted in 1988. Elected to Senate in 1994; second term. Chairman, GOP campaign committee, 2000-02
Religion: Presbyterian
Family: Wife Karyn; three sons
Family business: HCA, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, founded by his father and brother
Estimated net worth: $20 million
Author: When Every Moment Counts: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism from the Senate's Only Doctor
Hobbies: Started flying planes at age 16. Started running marathons at age 38
Average marathon time: Four to five hours
Average sleeping time per night: Four to five hours
Nickname used by President Bush: "Fristy"

Republicans pick 'unifier' to lead
By Kathy Kiely USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Bill Frist was elected Monday to head a Republican Senate majority that he helped create but never expected to lead.

"Seven days ago, I had no earthly idea that I would be standing here before you," the hoarse senator from Tennessee told reporters in Nashville. Moments earlier, his Republican colleagues in the Senate named him to one of the nation's most powerful jobs in an unusual conference call.

Colleagues drafted Frist to replace Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., after Lott became engulfed in a controversy over remarks some saw as endorsing racial segregation. Lott, who apologized for the comments several times before giving up his leadership job, was among 41 senators on the conference call. He thanked the others for their prayers.

Frist was elected unanimously on a voice vote. Later, he pledged to soothe the racial tensions that cost Lott his job. "We must dedicate ourselves to healing those wounds of division that have been reopened so prominently during these past few weeks," he said.

His task is formidable: Of 164 blacks interviewed in a Gallup Poll completed Sunday, only 6% said the Republican Party best reflects their views; 74% preferred the Democrats.

After spending Christmas with his family in Nashville, Frist will return to Washington for a crash course in leading the Senate. Thanks partly to his leadership of the GOP Senate campaign committee during the past two years, his party will have a slim 51-48 majority, with one independent. The majority leader's job usually goes to veteran legislators steeped in parliamentary minutiae; Frist was first elected in 1994. "He's got an enormous learning curve," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who organized Monday's phone call.

Frist, 27th in seniority among 51 Republicans, acknowledged his relative inexperience but said he would rely on Senate colleagues, ranging from junior members to "the so-called old bulls," to give him advice.

A thoracic surgeon who performed more than 200 heart-lung transplants before coming to Congress, Frist highlighted health care reform as one of his top priorities. He said he wants to strengthen Medicare, provide prescription-drug coverage to seniors and help the growing number of Americans who lack health insurance.

Though he has a solidly conservative voting record, Frist is not seen as an ideologue. The Main Street Republicans, whose members are mostly centrists, hailed Frist's promotion. "He has a record of being a unifier who spearheads cooperation," said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, the group's executive director. Congratulations also came from President Bush, a close Frist ally, who probably will prefer a middle-of-the road GOP agenda as he prepares for his 2004 re-election campaign.

Frist told reporters the first phone call he made after his election was to his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota. In the Senate campaign, Frist oversaw in the fall, Republicans frequently labeled Daschle an obstructionist. But Frist said Monday, "I am committed to working with him." Daschle responded, "I hope we can work together."

Frist's family has built a fortune by founding the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, HCA. The company recently agreed to pay the government $1.7 billion for overbilling Medicare in a settlement of the largest federal fraud case ever. Frist owns millions of dollars in HCA stock but never worked for the company.

As majority leader, Frist will control the legislative calendar and have the right to be recognized before any other member on the Senate floor. That will allow him to use the rules to pre-empt and stymie measures his party does not like. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who once held the job, calls the right of first recognition "the most potent weapon in the majority leader's arsenal."

But the job could come with drawbacks for a politician like Frist. Most observers say he wants to be president one day. Since the majority leader's post was created in the 1920s, only one occupant has ever made it to the White House: Lyndon Johnson, who became John Kennedy's vice president and assumed the presidency in 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated.

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