By Kathleen Hunter, CQ Staff

Senate Republicans have been quietly fretting about how to handle convicted Sen. Ted Stevens ’ return to the Senate for the lame duck session Nov. 17. One option: boot him from the conference when they hold their leadership election — possibly on Nov. 18.

A GOP aide said on Friday that rank-and-file senators are waiting to see if Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who called for Stevens’ resignation prior to the election, will notify the conference early next week about whether he plans to offer a motion calling for Stevens’ removal.

“There are others who may have to step up if he doesn’t,” the aide said.

If Stevens were to be ejected from the conference, he would lose his committee assignments, including his spot on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which he once chaired.

He also would become a free agent of sorts — unless the Senate as a whole votes to expel him — able to go his own way on votes, which could pose some difficulty for Republicans who saw their ranks dwindle on Election Day. In making their decision, Republican senators also may have to face the fact that while many of their incumbents lost, it appears that Alaska voters have elected Stevens to a seventh term — despite his conviction on filing false financial disclosure reports.