News-Record.com

It turns out both of North Carolina's senators will be whips in the new Congress.

Richard Burr bumped up to chief deputy whip for Senate Republicans this year.

Now Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, confirms reports quoting anonymous sources that she is a deputy whip for the Democrats. I asked her how she got the job.

"I got a call from Dick Durbin's office asking me to come and meet with him," Hagan said. Durbin is the majority whip.

She said her first assignment as whip was to count votes on the TARP legislation.

Whips have a couple jobs. One, they figure out where people stand on a particular piece of legislation so something that's going to fail badly doesn't come to the floor. Second, they twist arms when a vote is on the line and folks are breaking from the party orthodoxy.

A whip position is also important because it's an early sign of confidence in the new senator and an indication that she may be on the leadership track sooner than later.