MARK WARNER marketed himself to Virginia voters as a smart business guy. The strategy helped the Democrat win a term as governor and then a U.S. Senate seat.

The political rock stars at the Capitol right now are the senators assigned to energy and health care issues. Warner would love to be jamming with them, but Democratic leaders sized up the freshman, slapped a "Smart Business Guy" pocket protector on him and off to the Banking Committee he went.

Sen. Jim Webb's war hero cred and his Pentagon experience allowed him to be a player on national security issues as soon as he arrived in Washington.

One hundred days into his term, Warner is still searching for his niche. While financial regulation may not have been his first choice, it is a natural one for him. Senate colleagues and even a Wall Street Journal reporter have complimented his grasp of the complex issues, but Warner is the first to acknowledge he's got much to learn.

"I've had a lot of experience around the financial sector," he said in a coffee shop chat during a visit to Richmond last week. "I'm not sure I'm competent to rewrite the financial system rules for the whole country and the whole world, but that's what we're going to do in the next five years. Health care may or may not happen. Energy may or may not. Putting in place a financial regulatory structure is going to happen."

What's going to happen is the biggest expansion in federal financial regulation since the 1930s. The task is twofold. President Obama and congressional leaders will give new authority to government regulators to take over distressed financial institutions, sell off their assets and resolve contracts and debts in a tidy manner. Because that power is now limited to banks, the failures of nonbanks like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and American International Group turned into economic fiascoes. Second, a new financial watchdog will be established to enforce system-wide safety measures.

Those familiar with his gubernatorial term won't be surprised to learn Warner has spent his first months in the Senate building relationships. He already had close ties to Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, who employed Warner as a staffer in the 1980s. He's lunched with Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. And, of course, the courtship has included Republicans.

"I didn't know him before," said Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the banking panel. "He asks real incisive questions. He's a very serious legislator and is willing to work both sides of the aisle."

But Warner's campaign promise to be a "radical centrist" got much tougher last week when Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter announced he would leave the Republican Party and become a Democrat. His defection and a court battle over Minnesota's Senate election appear likely to give Democrats the 60 votes they need to fend off GOP filibusters. If that happens, Warner will have little wiggle room to take votes that burnish his independent streak.

So far, Warner hasn't faced many tough votes, but he managed to irritate business allies during procedural jockeying over a bill that would make it easier to unionize workplaces. The controversy erupted at an inconvenient time. Senate Democrats recently named Warner as their liaison to the business lobby. He has yet to take a position on the union proposal, which has the backing of Obama.

Warner's own short-lived bid for the presidential nomination might ordinarily make him a target, but with a first-term Democrat in the White House, all egos are either temporarily under wraps or focused on another man's miscues.

That gives Warner time to concoct a strategy for success. "Patience is not my strong suit," he admits, but patience may well be his best friend in the Senate, just as it was in the governor's mansion. Warner had his share of trip-ups when he arrived in Richmond, but he learned from his mistakes and turned painful lessons into political capital. If he follows that same formula in the Senate, he'll find his niche soon enough.

"I'm trying to keep my nose to the grindstone and not issue a press release every second day," he said. "I've got some frustrations with the job, but I want to give it time."