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With leadership elections just two weeks away, Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) appears to have begun a quiet campaign for the GOP Whip position in the 110th Congress should his ally, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), fail to win re-election next Tuesday.

Several Republican Senate sources said Monday that Lott has called a number of GOP Senators in recent days to express interest in the No. 2 leadership job and sought their support. The one-time Majority Leader has hinted at a return to the Republican Senate hierarchy for months but has kept his intentions closely guarded.

“He was making calls [Sunday] night indicating he’s running for Whip,” one knowledgeable GOP Senate aide said.

But sources close to Lott dismissed talk of an active leadership campaign by the Mississippi Republican and insist he is 100 percent behind Santorum’s twin bids to win re-election and become the GOP Whip next year. Lott allies say he will not challenge Santorum under any circumstances.

“There’s no truth that he’s actively campaigning,” said one Republican source close to Lott. “And I can guarantee he would never run against Rick Santorum.”

This source said if rumors are afloat that Lott is working Senators for support, that is the lawmakers’ perception and not reality.

“I don’t know that he’s reached out to anyone,” this source said. “Have people come to him? I don’t know.”

Santorum, now the GOP Conference chairman, is hoping to face off against Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) for the GOP Whip position when Senators elect new leaders on Nov. 15.

Lott has long been rumored to be a potential candidate if Santorum fails to overcome incredibly difficult odds to win a third term in the Senate. He has consistently trailed in the polls against his challenger, Pennsylvania state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D).

GOP sources said Monday that Lott might be sensing the reality of his friend and longtime ally’s political fate.

“He’s probably reading the polls up in Pennsylvania,” offered one Republican Senate aide.

It is unclear whether Lott has talked to Santorum directly about his plans. The two have been longtime friends, and Santorum was one of Lott’s strongest backers when he was pushed from the Majority Leader’s seat in 2002.

Either way, Santorum doesn’t appear ready to cede any ground heading into next Tuesday’s election. “Sen. Santorum has the votes locked up for the Whip race,” Santorum’s spokesman Robert Traynham said. “He fully expects to win re-election to the Senate next week and looks forward to working with the Conference and with the new leadership team.”

Alexander, for his part, reiterated Monday that he’s running for the Whip slot regardless of the competition, adding that he feels very secure with his level of support.

“If Trent runs then I guess there will be at least three” candidates, Alexander said. “It’s not surprising because it’s an important position in our leadership.”

Like Santorum, Alexander has been actively seeking the Whip job for some time, although he has kept his campaign largely under the radar. A former governor and Cabinet official, Alexander has focused his campaign on his breadth of experience and desire to serve the team, rather than advance his own ambitions. He says he has no interest in an office higher than Republican Whip.

“With 21 seats on the line in 2008 and what’s bound to be a very narrow margin of a majority, which I believe we’ll have, we need a unified leadership team,” Alexander said. “Most caucus members respond to that.”

Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is expected to move unopposed into the top leadership job when the Conference votes to organize. The contenders for other Conference leadership posts also appear to be fairly established, including Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) as the sole candidate for Conference chairman, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) expected to become Policy Committee chairman and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to assume the post of Conference vice chairman.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) recently announced plans to run for chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

While not unexpected, a prospective Lott Whip campaign will be his first attempt to return to leadership since 2002 when he abandoned his slot as the then-Republican Majority Leader under a hail of fire from both sides of the aisle. Lott stepped aside following comments he made at the 100th birthday of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) that were perceived as racially insensitive.

Current Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was elected to replace him.

Stepping back into a competitive leadership race is also familiar territory for Lott. In 1994, after just six years in the Senate, Lott made the bold step of taking on the more-senior Sen. Alan Simpson (Wyo.) in an earlier hunt for Majority Whip. Lott won.

One Senate Republican aide said Lott continues to hold significant sway in the Conference, and would be a formidable candidate to back up McConnell in the second leadership slot.

“His level of competence has been missed,” said the Senate aide. “People still very much appreciate the level of expertise that he has and a lot of folks would welcome him back into leadership.”

But others suggest the Whip race outcome is anyone’s guess. One Senate Republican aide said many Senators have kept their commitments to themselves as they await the election results and what the full ballot of contenders to consider will look like.

“It’s really hard to say right now” who would win, one Republican Senate staffer said. “It’s such a personal race.”