| United States Senators since about 1913 have recognized one of their colleagues as Majority Leader. In the century thereafter, 21 senators have assumed the title for periods of varying duration. Formal qualifications are not specified, either in Senate rules and precedents or in party procedures and minutes, but well-established trends mark pathways to the office. Nearly all are at the ideological center of their party, observed in their roll call voting behaviors, at the time of selection. While this suggests a necessary condition for election, it is not sufficient. An innovation in the nearly 100 years of the office's history is the late 20th century expectation that the Leader be a national spokesperson for the Senate and especially for fellow party members in that body. Hence, media acumen, especially a gift for articulating sound bites before television cameras, has distinguished successful candidates.; Median voters are advantaged in the selection of Leader, and the pattern continues during Leadership but with a twist: among Democratic Majority Leaders (not as evident among Republicans) there has been a noticeable trend toward the ideological extreme of their party. Such movements correlate with growing partisan majorities during a Leader's tenure. But Leaders are constrained by party without the chamber as well. When both Senate Majority Leader and President are of the same party, the Leader is expected to be the President's Leader as well as the Senate's---an expectation of the first Leader, John Kern, that has endured with his successors.; In addition to party and institutional constraints, Leaders respond to expectations of the state constituency that first sent them to the Senate. To bridge potential conflicts, Leaders specialize in seeking "pork" for their electoral constituency. The post advantages them in pressing colleagues for earmarks and lobbying agencies for authorizations to their constituencies, evidenced by the growth and success of both efforts during their tenure.; In all, U.S. Senate Majority Leadership is a task of balancing expectations of state, party, President, and Senate. |
