TRENT LOTT inadvertently did his Senate Republican colleagues and the entire Grand Old Party a big favor. He effectively forced himself out of the job of Senate majority leader and made way for a successor who can more credibly reflect the egalitarian views many modern Republicans espouse.

Senator Lott was simply bowing to the inevitable, of course, when he announced Friday that he would step down from the leadership post he has held since 1996. The segregationist sympathies the Mississippian seemed to be expressing in offhand comments at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party two weeks ago put his colleagues as well as the Bush White House in an untenable situation. They couldn't allow him to stay in a leadership role without appearing to endorse his long history of racially insensitive remarks and votes.

But Mr. Lott's calamity gives Republicans the chance to resume their control of the Senate in January with a bright new leader who will bring a fresh, more humane approach to the party's agenda.

Bill Frist of Tennessee, who appears to have the job locked up, is a good choice.

A former heart-lung transplant surgeon, Dr. Frist showed up in the Senate in 1995 with almost no political experience but with extensive academic credentials and a sunny bedside manner that quickly made him popular with his colleagues.

His voting record is generally conservative, but his medical background often influences his positions on social issues, giving them a more moderate cast. For example, Dr. Frist is the Senate's leading advocate for increased federal funding for AIDS research. He occasionally travels to Africa and other parts of the world to volunteer medical services to the poor.

He has also been active in legislation on Medicare reform and to protect the rights of managed-care patients.

Several more experienced and more dogmatically conservative Republicans were also eyeing Mr. Lott's job as he twisted in the wind. But their selection would not send the signal of fundamental change in tone that the GOP so desperately needs.

As painful as this experience has been for Senator Lott, he can still redeem himself and go on to a distinguished career of service to constituents wronged by a system he has finally repudiated as wicked and immoral.

By staying in the Senate, Mr. Lott has the opportunity to be part of his party's transformation. He has four years at least to make good on his frantically issued promises to advance an agenda more sensitive to the concerns of African-Americans and other minority voters.

Mr. Lott should be the first to insist that his sacrifice doesn't let his party off the hook.