Blunt Elected GOP Conference Vice Chairman

Senator Roy Blunt has won a Senate Republican leadership post over tea party favorite Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The secret balloting elevates Blunt, a former House leader and Mitt Romney’s chief advocate on Capitol Hill, to vice chairman of the GOP conference, the fifth-most senior position in the party’s caucus. The conference vice chairmanship position carries little power or responsibility other than to spread the Senate Republican leadership’s message ahead of the 2012 elections. But it often is a stepping stone to higher positions.