Original sentence: Bush was widely credited with helping him attain the post.Democrats have vowed to shut down the Senate in retaliation.Frist has pledged to leave the Senate after two terms, which would be in 2006; this would leave him ideally placed to pursue a presidential run.Frist himself is now Senate Majority Leader.In the Senate, he led the fight against intact dilation and extraction (also known as partial-birth abortion).In the aftermath, Lott resigned his position as Senate Majority Leader and Frist was chosen by Senate Republicans as his replacement; the administration of George W.Many of Frist's opponents have attacked him for what they see as pandering to future Republican primary voters; they claim that he has taken extreme positions on social issues such as the Terri Schiavo matter in order to please them.Shortly afterwards, Senator Trent Lott made comments at a Strom Thurmond birthday celebration in which said that if Thurmond's segregationist presidential bid of 1948 had succeeded, "we wouldn't have all these problems today".Specifically, controversy has focused on the nuclear option, under which the Republicans would change the rules of the Senate in order to avoid a filibuster of judges; the nuclear option is one of the highest priorities of social conservatives
Edited sentence: Frist also stated his belief that Terri Schiavo was not in a persistent vegetative state based on videotaped evidence.Frist has pledged to leave the Senate after two terms, which would be in 2006.In the Senate, he led the fight against Intact dilation and extraction (also known as partial-birth abortion).In the aftermath, Lott resigned his position as Senate Majority Leader and Frist was chosen by Senate Republicans as his replacement.Ironically, Frist himself is now Senate Majority Leader.Shortly afterwards, Senator Trent Lott made comments at a Strom Thurmond birthday celebration that raised questions about Lott's past with racial issues.Since Frist is not a neurologist, and never examined Schiavo himself this was considered ethically suspect