Who will take Murkowski's leadership position after this year's election?

[redcommander]

I am going to assume that the most likely choice will be a woman, since otherwise the Republican leadership in senate would be all male. I would love to see Ayotte or Collins get it.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Generally, incoming freshman Senators don't get put into the leadership. Besides, Republicans don't choose people based on affirmative action categories like race or gender, they choose the most talented person for the job: a white man.

[redcommander]

Generally, incoming freshman Senators don't get put into the leadership.

So that basically leaves Snowe and Collins, and Hutchinson who is retiring in 2012. They don't really have a deep enough bench of women in senate to ignore giving leadership positions to some of the newcomers. The Mainers infuriate a lot of Tea Partiers, but I could see Collins infuriating them less than Snowe since she is slightly more conservative than her.

[tpfkaw]

Collins, most likely.

[Niemeyerite]

collins or a man, sure.