WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Although they lost control of the Senate in the last election, Senate Democrats unanimously re-elected Tom Daschle of South Dakota as their chief for the next session of Congress, the party said in a surprise announcement Wednesday.
Republicans also voted Wednesday to re-elect their top congressional leaders -- Trent Lott of Mississippi as majority leader in the Senate and Dennis Hastert of Illinois as speaker of the House -- as both parties moved to cement their leadership choices for the 108th Congress, which begins in January.
"I was surprised and pleased at that reaffirmation of support, as I know all of our members of leadership were. It was a very kind and generous thing to do," Daschle said.
Elections for the Senate Democratic leadership posts had been scheduled for Dec. 3. At Wednesday's party lunch, however, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia -- the Senate's most senior Democrat -- suddenly called for a re-election of Daschle, Daschle's office reported.
Daschle, who will serve as minority leader, was re-elected unanimously, as were the caucus's second- and third-in-command, Assistant Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland for secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference. This will be the third Congress led by the team.
There was less of a sense of surprise over the Republican leadership, which will head both houses in the next session. The votes ran on schedule and almost all candidates ran unopposed.
In the Senate, Trent Lott of Mississippi will remain the head of the GOP, and Ted Stevens of Alaska will replace retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as the president pro tempore. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will be assistant majority leader and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania will be GOP conference chairman.
"We're going to be aggressive in our efforts, we're going to reach out to Democrats, we're going to work with the House of Representatives and the president to do what is right for this country," Lott said as he announced the team.
In the House, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas was promoted to the No. 2 position of majority leader from his current post as assistant leader, or "whip" -- so named because it requires the ability to move party members into line. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri was named the new majority whip.
Deborah Pryce of Ohio, a relative moderate, was named GOP Conference chairman, the No. 4 position. She becomes the top woman in congressional GOP leadership after beating out a challenge from conservatives J.D. Hayworth of Arizona and Jim Ryun of Kansas.
House Democrats, meanwhile, continued to fight for the position of minority leader. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, a 32-year-old center-to-conservative Democrat, held a news conference Wednesday to announce his support from 10 lawmakers of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
Another challenger, 56-year-old Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, emerged in a last minute announcement Wednesday, saying she represented the "reform wing" of the party.
Both Ford and Kaptur go up against front-runner Nancy Pelosi of California, a liberal and a strong fundraiser who has already received pledges of support from a majority of Democrats. Ford said he hopes his bid will show the party a new direction is needed.
House Democratic leadership decisions are scheduled for Thursday.
In the Senate, other Republican leaders named Wednesday were: Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas for vice conference chairman; John Kyl of Arizona for chairman of the GOP Policy Committee; and George Allen of Virginia for chairman of the Senate Campaign Committee.
