The Senate’s No. 2 Republican leader, Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK), broke ranks with GOP colleagues on Dec. 15 and called for a new election for majority leader, saying Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) may be so weakened by his comments despite his apologies that his continued service in that job could jeopardize the party’s legislative agenda.

Nickles’ comments were the first sign of rebellion among Republican senators. Most have watched closely to see whether Lott’s multiple apologies would defuse the controversy that has raged since his racially-charged comments at a birthday party for South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Nickles, Lott’s deputy for six years as the GOP whip, urged other Republican senators to consider picking a new leader because of the controversy.

Nickles, who had kept silent on Lott’s remarks that conveyed nostalgia for the policies of racial segregation, said he accepts Lott’s multiple apologies since the Thurmond bash.

“I am concerned that Sen. Lott has been weakened to the point that may jeopardize his ability to enact our agenda and speak to all Americans,” Nickles said in a statement on network television.

“There are several outstanding senators who are more than capable of effective leadership, and I hope we have an opportunity to choose,” he said. Nickles made it plain that he would be one of those candidates.

In an ABC interview, he added: “Can he be effective? Can he campaign in places like Chicago? I don’t want to squander our ability to get things done. We only have a short window this year.”

Nickles, with strong ties to the White House, said through an aide that the Administration knew he was privately feeling out colleagues on a possible run for the top job.

Sens. John Warner (R-VA) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) defended Lott as “a fine leader” and said they accepted his apologies. Warner said the issue must be decided by the 51 Republican senators.

“It is our responsibility as a group to come together, make a decision and then go forward—not to let this thing be dangling out there day after day,” Warner said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “I don’t think it’s fair to the party.”

Under Senate GOP rules, a meeting of the rank and file must be called if five senators request it. A Nickles aide said the senator had not yet asked other senators to support his call for a meeting to consider Lott’s fate.

Nickles has served the maximum six years as No. 2 Senate GOP leader and is in line to be the Budget Committee chairman in the new Congress that convenes in January.

“Senator Lott knows that he’s weakened,” McConnell said on ABC’s “This Week.” “He knows he made a bad mistake. But he’s apologized, as I said, on four different occasions. I think we ought to accept the apology and move on.”

Lott triggered an uproar earlier in December when he made comments at a 100th birthday party for the retiring Thurmond, indicating that the country would have been better off if Thurmond had won the 1948 presidential election as a candidate supporting segregation.