Following up on Paul's insanely useful look at Sen. Jon Kyl, who will replace departing Sen. Trent Lott as minority whip, here's a slightly different look at those jockeying to move on up in the leadership and take over Kyl's old job as Republican conference chairman (I'm using the Washington Post's list of likely contenders).

If Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison rises in the hierarchy, 20 former staffers of hers who are now lobbyists can say they once worked for the person responsible for the Senate GOP's message operations (compared to three for Sen. Richard Burr and none for Sen. Lamar Alexander -- so far at least). Hutchison has the most robust leadership PAC, called KPAC; in 2007, it has raised $632,952, of which $549,250 has been contributed by individuals, with the balance coming from other PACs. Burr has raised $215,500 -- most of which comes from other PACs, according to the latest FEC filing. Just $15,000 of the donations to the Next Century Fund came from individuals. Alexander's leadership PAC, the Tenn PAC, has raised $15,000 so far in 2007.

If you're just following the money, you might infer that more people with more at stake on Capitol Hill have a vested interest in Hutchison moving up as opposed to Burr or Alexander. That holds for earmark recipients as well (see below the fold for more...)