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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jules Witcover
Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander caused a ripple on
The news that in January he will give up his No. 3 position as Republican conference chairman was particularly surprising because the two-time presidential candidate has always been a conspicuous climber. A few years ago he ran for and missed the No. 2 spot as Senate Republican whip by a single vote, and he had been expected to try again, with incumbent Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona slated for retirement.
But this time he would be facing stiff competition from conservative Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the tough-minded chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee credited with moving the
While insisting he remains "a very Republican Republican" who has spent the last four years in the
Alexander acknowledges the shrinking of the band of once-moderate Republicans edging toward the now-dominant conservatism that rules the party roost and is being pushed further rightward by the tea party movement. Ever since his entry into politics he also has been seen as a restless power-seeker, belying his benign demeanor.
In 1967, he came to Washington as legislative assistant to then Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee and became an aide to Nixon political adviser Bryce Harlow in the
After two years as chairman of the
But Alexander did have a reputation for seeking to reach across the political aisle before and after he was finally elected to the
"The
Alexander contended that the news media, not the
The problem in the
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