ASK TRENT LOTT WHETHER HE will do the job of Senate majority leader differently from Bob Dole, and he will invariably remark, “The torch has been passed but the flame is the same.” This may be appropriately deferential toward Dole, but it’s not entirely accurate: At the all-important staff level, the passing of the torch means the empowerment of a small group of highly capable, solidly conservative staffers. Their rise comes at the expense of a clique of moderate aides whose influence enabled like-minded GOP senators to exercise power disproportionate to their numbers. The shift presages a more conservative, politically oriented Senate agenda that will be in closer harmony with the activist inclinations of the Republican House.