The position of U.S. Senate whip may be heading back to Kentucky.

        Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Louisville Republican known in Washington as one of the GOP's top strategists, is reportedly going to run for whip, the party's second-highest leadership post in the Senate.

McConnell

        Mr. McConnell would be the first Kentuckian to hold the slot since former Sen. Wendell Ford, the Owensboro Democrat who served four terms as the Democratic whip from 1990 to 1998 before retiring in 1998 after three terms in the Senate.

        Kentucky would benefit if Mr. McConnell takes the post, said congressional expert Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor.

        “It's the No. 2 position in the party, and that person is included in most of the key decisions by the Senate as a whole and certainly in that party,” Mr. Sabato said.

        “And in that position, you can build up a lot of chits within the Senate that enables you to get first or second in line when the goodies are distributed for back home,” he said.

        Mr. McConnell has not commented and would not grant an interview on the subject last week.

        But Roll Call, a Washington paper that covers Capitol Hill, Thursday quoted a McConnell supporter claiming that the lawmaker already has the votes lined up to win the seat in December, when leadership elections are held.

        “My sense is that it is over,” Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah, who has been helping Mr. McConnell line up votes, told Roll Call.

        “I think Mitch has a majority of votes, a fairly sizable majority of the votes,” he said.

        The paper said Mr. McConnell has been quietly soliciting support since last summer.

        Also last week The Hill, another Capitol Hill paper, reported that Mr. McConnell and Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho are the front runners for the position, which is voted on by Senate Republicans. Mr. Craig is the only announced candidate for the position.

        The present GOP whip, Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, is not seeking re-election.

        Mr. McConnell, who served as an adviser to President Bush's 2000 campaign, has previously served in Senate GOP leadership. From 1997 to 2001, he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where he raised $163 million.

        The whip's duties include lining up votes to pass Republican legislation and enforcing party discipline, which are ideally suited to Mr. McConnell's talents, Mr. Sabato said.

        “This would be an ideal position for Mitch McConnell because he is very good at organizing within the (Republican) caucus and he's very good at moving, and at times killing, legislation,” Mr. Sabato said.

        “He personally held off campaign finance reform for years by opposing it,” he said.

        Of course, his plans to run for whip are contingent on being elected to a fourth term in November. Mr. McConnell is challenged by Lois Combs Weinberg, a Democrat from Hindman in the eastern Kentucky mountains. She is the daughter of former Gov. Bert T. Combs and has never held office.

        Should he win election to whip, Mr. McConnell will be in a position to push an agenda favorable to Kentucky and return federal tax dollars to the state.

        While serving as whip, Mr. Ford helped steer millions of federal dollars for expansions, including construction of a new runway and planning for another for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

        He was also instrumental in passing legislation and promoting programs favorable to growers of tobacco, Kentucky's No. 1 cash crop and a $1 billion-a-year industry in the state.

        Other money secured by Mr. Ford for Northern Kentucky included:

        • $300,000 in 1997 to Newport to hire four police officers.

        • $860,000 to help buy out 14 homeowners in Melbourne, a Campbell County city along Ky. 8 vulnerable to Ohio River flooding.

        Kentucky Republicans are thrilled but not surprised that Mr. McConnell may seek the leadership post.

        “Many of us have felt that, after his tour as head of the Senate campaign committee, that Sen. McConnell was ready to rise up to take another leadership post,” said Kentucky GOP vice chairman Damon Thayer.

        “He has evolved into a national leader for our party, and that can only help Kentucky,” Mr. Thayer said.

        “This can only mean good things for Kentucky,” said Marc Wilson, a Republican political consultant from Florence.

        Even Democrats recognize the power of the position.

        “The whip is involved in the decision-making process for what moves through the Senate and what doesn't,” said Jerry Anglin, a longtime Kentucky Democratic Party strategist and an aide to Kentucky House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green.

        “I consider a position like that pretty high timber,” he said.

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