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The December death of state Sen. Ben Altamirano left the Senate without a president pro-tem, a hole that has to be filled before the legislative session starts Tuesday.

The Democrats, the majority party, plan to hold a caucus today to nominate a leader for the Senate. Democratic Senate leaders say it is anybody's race.

"There's some names floating around, but we really won't know how it's going to shake out until it happens," said Majority Floor Leader Michael Sanchez, a Belen Democrat.

Democratic Sens. Pete Campos and John Grubesic are possibilities, Sanchez said, and Sen. Tim Jennings, a Democrat from Roswell, said in an interview Wednesday that he will enter the caucus.

Grubesic, of Santa Fe, and Campos, of Las Vegas, did not return phone calls Wednesday and Thursday.

Sanchez and Sen. John Arthur Smith, two early names mentioned as possible successors to Altamirano, said they were not interested in the position.

The Democrats' nominee has to be approved by the Senate.

A new leader would be chosen before the 2009 session when Altamirano's term would have expired.

Altamirano and Gov. Bill Richardson were close allies. Altamirano carried Richardson's minimum wage increase plan in 2006, one of the governor's top priorities.

But Sanchez said the governor has not played any role in the Senate president selection process, and Jennings said he has had no contact with Richardson since deciding to run.

It would be impossible for anybody to replace Altamirano, who helped senators "disagree without being disagreeable," Jennings said.

"It's a position where you try to bring together a bunch of different ideas in an orderly and civil way," Jennings said. "I can't be Benny, but I would like to continue the trends that he started."

Jennings said that whoever takes Altamirano's position will probably not rush to make any major changes.

"I think everyone is still just in shock about this," he said. "We'll just be trying to get through it."