undererwood. in 1925 charles curtis became the first republican so named. thus by the mid 1920's the position of senate majority and minority leaders had become formalized. but even then the positions did not resemitble office folks know today. for example senator harry reid and i occupy the two front aisle desks of the senate chamber on each side of the divide down the middle. we occupy those as the majority leader and we don't use the term minority in the senate, the republican leader. but the democratic leader did not occupy the center aisle until joe robinson did so in 1927 and the republican leader did not do so until a full decade after that. before then those desks had simply been assigned based on seniority. so today the main formal power that the majority leader and the leader of the minority enjoy is prior recognition, the power of prior recognition that. means if a number of senators are all seeking to address the senate to speak or introduce a bill or amendment, the majority leader wil