Thune Announces He'll Run for Party Leader Again Whether His Party Wins or Loses, Several of His Own Candidates Say 'No Thanks'

WASHINGTON — Senator Thune, his party's leader in the chamber, told reporters this week that he will seek another term at the top regardless of whether his party wins the majority in November, making him possibly the only person in American politics whose job security does not depend on the election he is managing.

Thune, 75, described his caucus as 'totally unified' heading into the midterms. A number of the people trying to join that caucus, including several of his party's own Senate nominees, have said they will not vote for him as leader, have declined to say, or have said they are not sure they want his help campaigning.

Asked how that squares with unity, Thune's allies explained that the party is unified in wanting to win, and that the question of who leads it afterward is a separate unity, to be taken up at a later date by a smaller number of people in a closed room.

The Press's Senate desk runs the flip: the other party's veteran leader vowing to stay on no matter the result, while his own recruits run away from him, would be 'a gerontocracy that can't take a hint.' Under Thune, it is 'steady experience.' The leadership election remains, as ever, a secret ballot of the already elected.