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Senate Republicans Leave Leadership Positions Intact |
 | | McConnell, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a vehement opponent of overhauling the campaign finance laws, won the race by a vote of 39 to 13, a reflection of his fund-raising expertise and the uneasiness of many Republicans with Hagel's relative inexperience. |
 | | The challenge against McConnell, a three-term Senator who had the backing of the majority leader, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, was heralded by some, especially a small group of conservative junior Senators, as a sign of dissatisfaction with the leadership and its strategy in the general election. |
 | | McConnell drew fire from a few Republican Senators who said that he had been too focused in the general election on an effort to defeat Senator Russell D. Feingold, a leading sponsor of campaign finance legislation, at the expense of other races. |
| partners.nytimes.com /library/politics/981202leader-gop.html (514 words) |
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