LOTT LANDS SENATE'S TOP PRIZE : SOUTHERNERS EXPAND RULE TO BOTH HOUSES.

Byline: Jerry Gray The New York Times

Senate Republicans elected Trent Lott of Mississippi as their leader Wednesday, putting the leadership of both houses of Congress in the hands of conservative Southern Republicans a generation younger than the men they replaced.

It is the first time ever that two Republicans from the South have led both chambers of Congress. And the last time two Southerners held both posts was in 1960 when two Texas Democrats, Lyndon Johnson in the Senate and Sam Rayburn in the House, had leadership roles. Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia was elected speaker of the House after Republicans won control in 1994.

Lott defeated his fellow Mississippi Republican, Thad Cochran, in a secret ballot. Members said the vote was 44-8.

Lott played down the idea that his leadership would mean big changes in the Senate. ``We want the American people to know that while the torch has been passed today, the flame is still the same,'' he said.

But he brought with him a new slate of Senate officers who not only mirror his hard-edged politics, but also are in step with the generational and regional shifts that have reshaped Congress since the Republicans won control of the House and Senate in the 1994 elections.

Sen. Don Nickles, a rock-ribbed conservative from Oklahoma, replaced Lott as the second-in-command, or majority whip. He was unopposed. And two of the next three posts are in the hands of Southern conservatives - Cochran retained his No. 3 job as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, and Sen. Connie Mack of Florida kept his job as secretary of the Republican Conference, which places him fifth in the hierarchy.

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho moved into the leadership for the first time, defeating Sens. Robert Bennett of Utah and Daniel Coats of Indiana to become chairman of the Policy Committee, the No. 4 job. All three are among the Senate's conservative Republicans.

As a group, the new Senate Republican leaders resemble the lieutenants who have helped Gingrich wage his revolution in the House. In fact, Gingrich has referred to Lott as one of his mentors.

Besides Gingrich, the House Republicans are led by Reps. Dick Armey of Texas, the majority leader; Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority whip; John Boehner of Ohio, chairman of the House Republican Conference; and Bill McCollum of Florida, the vice chairman.

Bob Dole formally surrendered the job as majority leader Tuesday, a month after he announced that he would resign from Congress after 35 years to devote his full attention to his race for the presidency. He had held the job as leader of the Senate Republicans, both in the minority and in the majority, since Nov. 28, 1984, longer than any other person.

Lott found the meat of his support for the leadership in a block of Senate members who had known him from his days in the House of Representatives nearly a decade ago and from eager newcomers who frequently seem impatient with the deliberate pace of the Senate. Lott was elected to the Senate in 1988 and Cochran a decade earlier.

``There's likely to be a more aggressive tone,'' Sen. Bill Frist, a Republican freshman from Tennessee, predicted.

Dole offered his congratulations in a written statement in which he described Lott as ``a talented, loyal and effective whip.''

``I am proud to join my former Republican Senate colleagues in calling him leader,'' Dole said.

The Democratic minority leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, offered an olive branch to his new rival.

``I begin this day and this new period with great expectations, with optimism, with the belief that we can come together,'' he said.

But one of the more liberal Democrats in the House offered a stick.

``The Republican Party is now completely led by extremists,'' said Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan. ``The Senate is about to become a replica of Newt's House.''

The 72-year-old Dole's political legacy is sure to be one of Athe masterful deal maker whose top deputies generally reflected his moderating style. But that changed last year when Lott staged a palace coup of sorts. He leapfrogged past his seniors, including Cochran, to defeat by one vote Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, Dole's favorite, for the job as majority whip.

From that point, Lott laid the groundwork to make sure that he would be in position to move into the top job when Dole left.

SEN. TRENT LOTT  AGE-BIRTH DATE: 54, Oct. 9, 1941.

EDUCATION: Law degree from the University of Mississippi.

EXPERIENCE: U.S. House 1973-1989. U.S. Senate 1989-present.

FAMILY: Wife, Patricia Elizabeth Thompson, two children.

QUOTE: ``The torch has been passed, the flame is the same.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (Color) Trent Lott

Rightward shift seen

Box: SE N. TRENT LOTT (See text)