Updated: 11/8/2006 5:11:40 PM
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says he's confident his Republican colleagues will select him to be GOP whip, the party's Number 2 leadership position in the Senate.
Alexander said he's close to a majority and working on a consensus to win the post now that his closest rival, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, lost his re-election bid.
Alexander for months has been meeting with Senate Republicans about the position. The current whip, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is expected to succeed Senator Bill Frist as GOP leader. Frist, of Nashville, is leaving at the end of the year to consider a 2008 presidential campaign.
The whip counts votes and tries to maintain party unity.
McConnell also has used the leadership job to prioritize projects back home in Kentucky, something Alexander has said he would try to do too.
copyright AP
