trent lott

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) will announce this afternoon that he's retiring from the Senate late next month, stunning Republicans who had only last year reinstated the 67-year-old to their leadership ranks.

Lott, the minority whip, made the decision over the Thanksgiving weekend with his family in Pascagoula, Miss., according to a senior Republican insider. Lott's move shocked Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have seen a wave of veterans announce their decision to not seek re-election next year as the GOP looks increasingly certain to remain in the minority. But Lott is the most senior Republican to retire, and his decision comes barely a year after he won re-election to a six-year term.

Lott's departure is equally stunning because, after cruising to his re-election last year, he completed a political rehabilitation from allegations of racial insensitivity because of remarks he made at a 100th birthday party for Strom Thurmond in December 2002, which led to his banishment from GOP leadership. Last November, after four years as a back-bench Republican who burnished his image as a deal-maker, Lott won a narrow race to become GOP whip, the No. 2 post in leadership.

"Fatigue has set in," said the GOP aide, requesting anonymity to speak freely about a decision that will not be formal until a noon press conference in Pascagoula, Miss. (Check back to Capitol Briefing during the day for updates on Lott's press conference.)

Lott, 67, grew tired of the political infighting in the Senate as Republicans have been forced into a position of merely blocking a Democratic agenda, the aide said, stressing that the decision was not connected to any health or ethical issues.

Gov. Haley Barbour (R) will be allowed to appoint a successor to the seat, but a special election to fill the remainder of the term is likely to be scheduled for next November. Barbour and Lott are both close to Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), who worked for the senator before winning his own House seat. Pickering had decided earlier this year to retire at the end of next year rather than run for re-election to his House seat. Democrats had been wooing former state Attorney General Michael Moore to run against Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) next year but Moore demurred. (See "The Fix" for more details about the race to succeed Lott in Mississippi.)

Lott's departure is the biggest blow yet to Republicans who have been fighting the perception that they will remain in the minority in both the House and Senate for some time to come. While many of the retiring GOP lawmakers were former subcommittee chairs and senior members not happy with minority status, Lott is the first member of either chamber's leadership to announce he will walk away from the Capitol.

Today's decision will complete a two-year roller coaster ride for Lott and his emotional investment in the Senate. In December 2005, Lott returned home for the holidays expecting to announce his retirement at the end of 2006. But, as he and his aides later explained, he reversed course and decided to run for re-election because he wanted to help the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Lott lost his home in the storm.

He was first elected to the House in 1972, where he served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach President Nixon. He rose to House Republican whip in the 1980s, then won a Senate seat in 1988. He became GOP whip in 1995, and won the race to succeed
reports this morning at about 7:15 AM, "NBC News has learned that Trent Lott's in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his Senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today."

The US News Political Bulletin has learned that Lott will make the announcement today at noon. According to a knowledgeable source, Lott is resigning by the end of the year to avoid new ethics rules that double the amount of time a retired lawmaker must wait before lobbying former colleagues. The former Senate majority leader had contemplated retiring prior to his last election, and is said to be eager to begin his post-Senate career while he is still relatively young.


Giuliani, Romney Clash As GOP Race Heats Up.
The GOP race, which has been so far generally devoid of large-scale battles, turned decided negative this weekend as Rudy Giuliani, who leads in national polls, sparred with Mitt Romney, who leads in many early state polls, including New Hampshire. The Washington Post reports in a front-page story that "the race for the Republican presidential nomination took a sharply negative turn" in New Hampshire yesterday "as the two candidates traded accusations about taxes, crime, immigration, abortion and ethical standards." The "rhetorical volleys underscored the growing stakes here in New Hampshire, where Romney leads in the polls but Giuliani now believes he has a chance to derail the former Massachusetts governor's campaign before it can build the kind of momentum that could make him unstoppable." Romney "dramatically escalated the attacks Sunday with a salvo at Giuliani, who had earlier criticized him over a judicial appointee who had overruled a lower court and ordered the release of a convicted killer who has since been charged with another killing." Romney "proceeded to link Giuliani to Clinton on abortion, gay rights and immigration, and ended with tough words for the former mayor's support for former New York police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik to be secretary of homeland security."

The Chicago Tribune reports that Giuliani "said on Sunday that rival Mitt Romney was 'not one of the outstanding governors' and that he failed to lower taxes or do much else of note while he was in the Massachusetts executive office. In fact, Giuliani said, the only reason Romney is leading some polls in early voting states is because he has been spending a lot more money than the other candidates seeking the GOP nomination for president. Asked why he was breaking with his declared plan to keep things positive, Giuliani said that Romney and others started it. 'It's because they criticized me,' Giuliani said. 'Notice I haven't criticized anyone who hasn't criticized me. Gov. Romney has been criticizing me for weeks and weeks and weeks.'"

The AP reports the "back-and-forth backbiting between" Giuliani and Romney that began on Saturday "spilled over into Sunday as Giuliani contended that the former Massachusetts governor has fumbled on health care and economic matters." Asked by "a diner patron about Romney's health care program while governor, Giuliani said Romney 'made a mistake' by mandating coverage for all Massachusetts residents." Giuliani, on day two of a New Hampshire bus tour, said, "He sort of did Hillary's plan in Massachusetts." The AP adds after a "campaign event in Newport on Sunday, Romney told The Associated Press: 'Let's compare our records. Mayor Giuliani left a budget deficit of $3 billion -- a $3 billion budget gap that Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg called a financial crisis. I left a $2 billion rainy day fund and my last budget left a $500 million surplus.'"

USA Today reports Giuliani accused Romney "of taking a page from Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's book" on health care. Romney has "not highlighted his Massachusetts plan in his presidential campaign, and he often notes that the Democratic-controlled Legislature changed his original proposal."

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Thompson Accuses Fox News Of Bias Against Him
The Politico reports Fred Thompson "attacked Fox News on Sunday for what he called a 'constant mantra' that his floundering campaign for president is troubled, and he accused the network of skewing things against him." Though he "certainly isn't the first politician to make that accusation," he was "the first high-profile Republican to do so." The assertion was "arresting because Fox News was frequently Thompson's forum of choice when he was contemplating a campaign and as he tried to find his footing after he announced." Asked on Fox News Sunday by host Chris Wallace to explain the perception that he has failed to gain traction in the polls thus far, Thompson replied, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth. And I saw the promo for this show, and it was kind of featuring the New Hampshire poll. ... From day one, they said I got in too late, I couldn't do it. ... They're entitled to their opinion. But that doesn't seem to be shared by the cross-section of American people. If you look at the national polls, you'll see that I'm running second and have been running second for a long time." Thompson went on to reproach host Wallace for "highlight[ing] nothing but the negative in terms of these polls, and then put on your own guys, who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, you know, kind of skews things a little bit. ... You have the right to put in your one side, and put in the Fox side, and I have the right to respond to it. And thankfully, you've given me that opportunity."

The Hill adds that Wallace "denied to Thompson that 'Fox has been going after you' and asked, 'Do you know anybody who thinks you've run a great campaign, sir?' Thompson responded, 'It's not for me to come here and try to convince you that somebody else thinks I've run a great campaign.' He added that National Review magazine has praised him for issuing detailed policy proposals on Social Security and immigration. Following the sharp exchange, a smiling Wallace said, 'I'm glad I asked the question because I got a heck of an answer.'"


Clinton, Obama Battle Over Electability
With polls showing a tight race in Iowa, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are touting their ability to win in the general election. The AP reports Clinton, campaigning in Iowa, "maintained Sunday that she's the best candidate to win against Republicans, saying she has more experience battling the GOP than any other candidate in the Democratic field." Clinton said, "I believe that I have a very good argument that I know more about beating Republicans than anybody else running. They've been after me for 15 years, and much to their dismay, I'm still standing. I'm leading in all the polls, I'm beating them in state after state after state."

The Washington Post reports Obama and Clinton "are locked in a tight race in Iowa with former senator John Edwards (N.C.), and each is putting renewed focus on electability -- a factor that helped turn the state for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) in the 2004 Democratic contest. Although most Democrats at the national level view Clinton as the most viable nominee, Iowans are more receptive to viewing Obama and Edwards that way. All of the campaigns concede electability is a top concern among caucusgoers. Health plans and war policy aside, they want to back a winner."

Meanwhile, Time reports, "The new message driving Barack Obama's resurgent campaign these days is 'electability plus.' ... Electability plus means not just getting elected but getting elected for the right reasons. It is a rebuttal of the argument that Hillary Clinton should win the Democratic nomination simply because of her perceived advantage against G.O.P. rivals. And it provides a rationale for why Obama is running now, why he didn't wait four or eight years to launch a presidential campaign. It's significant then that Obama's message seems to be catching on among the notoriously pragmatic Iowans."


Rep. Carson Reveals She Has Terminal Lung Cancer
USA Today reports that Indiana Rep. Julia Carson (D) "revealed she has terminal lung cancer in a statement Saturday in which she expressed her 'eternal gratitude' to family, friends and her constituents. The Indianapolis Democrat, who took a leave from Congress in September because of a leg infection, said her doctors discovered the cancer while treating her late this summer. In her statement, Carson, 69, disclosed that she had battled cancer before and that it had gone into remission but was back with 'a terminal vengeance.'" The AP adds Carson "did not say if she intended to hold onto her seat or to run for a seventh term. She previously said she intended to seek re-election.

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Top

WASHINGTON NEWS
Bush Not Expected To Take Active Role In Mideast Talks
As President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepare to convene talks this week in Annapolis in an effort to reach a Mideast peace deal, the Los Angeles Times reports on its front page that Bush will not take an "activist" role in the summit. Under the headline "Bush To Stay On Sidelines Of Mideast Talks," the Times reports that speaking to reporters Sunday night, National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley "said Bush believed Washington's role should be to aid and encourage Israelis and Palestinians, not 'lean on one side or another and jam a settlement through.'" While the President's position "is likely to reassure Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is politically weak at home and fearful that tough concessions could bring about his government's collapse," it will "almost surely disappoint the delegation headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which has been hoping American pressure could force Israeli concessions." In addition, Bush's less involved role "is likely to displease many of the Arab and European governments attending the conference that have been urging a more active role."

In an analysis, the AP says that "two key questions" about this week's meetings "are how much Bush himself will become involved and how much good he could do during the final year in the White House after a hands-off history." Though "past presidents staked much on the Middle East," Bush, "for a host of reasons...has behaved differently. There was his inclination to discard all things Clinton, coupled with the recognition that past intensive efforts...had not paid off. The Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war drew the bulk of the White House's attention." Along similar lines, the Washington Post writes under the headline "For Bush, It's Not About Being There" that "the opening of Tuesday's Middle East conference in Annapolis, seven years into the Bush administration, is a reminder of how little the traditional concept of brokering an Arab-Israeli settlement through an ongoing 'peace process' has figured into...Bush's foreign policy. Another is Bush's near-absence from the Middle East during his presidency."

A Chance For Bush, Rice To Cement Legacy? A number of news articles this morning examine the role the Annapolis talks, and a potential Mideast peace deal, would play in cementing both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's legacy. McClatchy, for example, reports under the headline "Can Rice Save Her Legacy With 'Hail Mary' Pass?" that Rice "is hoping to rewrite her legacy in the next 14 months, beginning with what amounts to a Hail Mary pass" at this week's talks in Annapolis. The Baltimore Sun, similarly, said yesterday that "while the Bush administration has worked to suppress expectations for the Middle East peace conference...observers say the professional and political stakes for...Rice are much harder to minimize." Though "an outcome resembling success could restore some of the former Stanford professor's diplomatic credibility, they say, and perhaps add a line to her career's postscript that doesn't contain the word 'Iraq,'" something "less than success could extinguish whatever progress she has fostered as the president's top diplomat in the past three years, and perhaps worsen relations with a part of the world considered vital to American security and foreign policy."

On its front page, the New York Times reports under the headline "Rice's Turnabout On Mideast Peace Talks" that "nearly seven tumultuous years" after Bush took office, Rice "has led the Bush administration to a startling turnaround and is now thrusting the United States as forcefully as Mr. Clinton once did into the role of mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians." Another New York Times article published today, adapted from "Condoleezza Rice: An American Life" (a book to be published next month), examines Bush and Rice's "unusually tight bond," which "has helped her as secretary of state in his second term to prod the president toward diplomacy with Iran and North Korea. But administration officials have long said that her devotion to Mr. Bush made her unwilling to challenge the president when needed during his first term, when she served as a less than confident national security adviser."


"Surge Of Violence" Reported In Baghdad
Last night NBC Nightly News reported that a "surge of violence...shattered the recent relative calm in Baghdad. At least three bombings left ten people dead and wounded three dozen. US forces also report detaining two dozen gunmen in operations targeting Al Qaeda militants around the country." The AP, under the headline "New Violence Mars Progress In Baghdad," says "a recent uptick in violence in Iraq continued Sunday as a parked car bomb exploded in a crowded area near a medical complex, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 30."

Some More Good News The New York Times is also reporting that the first "substantive drawdown of American troops in Iraq has begun, as the first members of a brigade in Diyala Province have started to leave." Col. David W. Sutherland of the Third Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division "said all 5,000 of his troops would be gone by mid-December." The Los Angeles Times adds that according to U.S. officials, "the redeployment would not lessen troop levels in Diyala, but it would spread American forces thinner by sending some in Baghdad northeast to the region." The Times notes that Diyala, which borders Iran, "had been an Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold."

Surge Deemed A Success Sen. Lindsey Graham, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said the surge is "working amazingly well, beyond my expectations. I think history will judge the surge as probably the most successful counterinsurgency military operation in history. Violence is down. Economic activity is up. ... So hats off to General Petraeus and all under his command. You're making military history and a phenomenal success." In a piece for Newsweek Charles Peters, founder of The Washington Monthly, writes, "I have been troubled by the reluctance of my fellow liberals to acknowledge the progress made in Iraq in the last six months. ... The fact is that the situation in Iraq, though some violence persists, is much improved since the summer." Time's Joe Klein writes, "In each and every debate, the Dems should acknowledge the progress being made in Iraq and ask the question, So why can't we start bringing home the troops now?"

Bush Revising Political Goals For Iraq In a major front-page piece this weekend, the New York Times reported, "With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections." Administration officials are "focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals." The Times noted US "officials have not abandoned their larger goals and emphasize the importance of reaching them eventually," but "public comments by President Bush and his aides" about the drop in violence "have been muted, reflecting frustration at the lack of political progress, a continuation of a pattern in which intense American efforts to promote broader reconciliation have proved largely fruitless." AFP picked up on the Times meme, claiming the Bush Administration "has whittled its political goals for Iraq, setting achievable targets so it can continue claiming success."


US Goals Not Being Met In Afghanistan
Sunday's Washington Post reported on its front page that a White House assessment of the war in Afghanistan "has concluded that wide-ranging strategic goals that the Bush administration set for 2007 have not been met, even as U.S. and NATO forces have scored significant combat successes against resurgent Taliban fighters." The evaluation by the National Security Council concluded "that only 'the kinetic piece' -- individual battles against Taliban fighters -- has shown substantial
Trent Lott
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Trent Lott



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Junior Senator
from Mississippi
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 1989
Serving with Thad Cochran
Preceded by John Stennis
Succeeded by Incumbent (2013)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21st United States Senate Majority Leader
In office
January 20, 2001 � June 6, 2001
Preceded by Tom Daschle
Succeeded by Tom Daschle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19th United States Senate Majority Leader
In office
June 12, 1996 � January 3, 2001
Preceded by Bob Dole
Succeeded by Tom Daschle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16th & 18th United States Senate Minority Leader
In office
January 3, 2001 � January 20, 2001
June 6, 2001 - 2002
Preceded by Tom Daschle
Succeeded by Tom Daschle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

25th United States Senate Majority Whip
In office
January 3, 1995 � June 12, 1996
Preceded by Wendell Ford
Succeeded by Don Nickles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

24th United States Senate Minority Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 4, 2007
Preceded by Dick Durbin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born October 09, 1941 (1941-10-09) (age 66)
Grenada, Mississippi
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse Patricia Thompson Lott
Alma mater University of Mississippi
Religion Baptist
Chester Trent Lott Sr. (born October 9, 1941) is a United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. He has served in numerous leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including House Minority Whip (1981-1989), Senate Majority Leader (1996-2001), Senate Minority Leader (2001-2002), and Senate Minority Whip (2006-2007).

On November 26, 2007, news media reported that Lott intends to resign from his Senate seat by the end of 2007.[1] This will be before Republican Bobby Jindal takes the oath of Governor (January 14, 2008) and thus Democrat Kathleen Blanco will appoint Lott's replacement.

He married Patricia Thompson on December 27, 1964. The couple has two children: Chester Trent "Chet" Lott, Jr., and Tyler Lott.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Political career
2.1 House of Representatives
2.2 United States Senate
2.2.1 2006 re-election campaign
2.2.2 Resignation
3 Controversies
3.1 Resignation from Senate leadership
3.2 Pork spending
3.3 On the 2007 Immigration Bill
3.4 On S. 2205 the "Dream Act" Immigration Bill
4 Author
5 Trivia
6 Footnotes
7 Bibliography
8 External links



[edit] Early life
Lott was born in Grenada, Mississippi. His father, Chester Paul Lott, was a shipyard worker; his mother, Iona Watson, was a schoolteacher. He attended college at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in public administration in 1963 and a law degree in 1967. He served as a Field Representative for Ole Miss and was president of his fraternity, Sigma Nu.


[edit] Political career

[edit] House of Representatives
Lott was raised as a Democrat. He served as administrative assistant to House Rules Committee chairman William M. Colmer, also of Pascagoula, from 1968 to 1972. Colmer, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, endorsed Lott as his successor in Mississippi's 5th District, located in the state's southwestern tip, even though Lott ran as a Republican. Lott won handily.

Lott's party switch was part of a growing trend in the South. During the 1960s, cracks had begun to appear in the Democrats' "Solid South", as many whites, motivated in part by the national Democratic Party's stance on civil rights, began to switch parties. For example, 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater carried Mississippi by winning an unheard-of 87 percent of the popular vote even as he was routed nationally.

It is very likely that Lott would have won even without Colmer's endorsement, as in that year's presidential election, Richard Nixon won reelection in a massive landslide. Nixon won 49 states and 78 percent of Mississippi's popular vote. Lott and his future Senate colleague, Thad Cochran (also elected to Congress that year), were only the second and third Republicans elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Lott's strong showing in the polls landed him on the powerful House Judiciary Committee as a freshman, where he voted against all three articles of impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon during the committee's debate. After Nixon released the infamous "Smoking Gun" transcripts (which proved Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up), however, Lott announced that he would vote to impeach Nixon when the articles came up for debate before the full House (as did the other Republicans who voted against impeachment in committee).[2]

Three months later, in November 1974, Lott and Cochran became the first Republicans re-elected to Congress from Mississippi since Reconstruction, in both cases by blowout margins. Lott was re-elected six more times without much difficulty, and even ran unopposed in 1978. He served as House Minority Whip (the second-ranking Republican in the House) from 1981 to 1989; he was the first Southern Republican to hold such a high leadership position.


[edit] United States Senate
Lott ran for the Senate in 1988, after 42-year incumbent John Stennis announced he would not run for another term. He defeated Democratic 4th District Congressman Wayne Dowdy by almost eight points. He has never faced another contest nearly that close. He was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006 with no substantive Democratic opposition. He gave some thought to retirement for much of 2005, however, after Hurricane Katrina, he announced on January 17, 2006 that he would run for a fourth term.

He became Senate Majority Whip when the Republicans took control of the Senate in 1995, succeeding as Majority Leader in 1996 when Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to focus on his presidential campaign. As majority leader, Lott was had a major role in the Senate trial following the impeachment of Bill Clinton. After the House narrowly voted to impeach Clinton, Lott proceeded with the Senate trial in early 1999, despite criticisms that the Republicans were far short of the two-thirds majority required under the Constitution to convict Clinton and remove him from office. He later agreed to a decision to suspend the proceedings after the Senate voted not to convict Clinton.

After the 2000 elections produced a 50-50 partisan split in the Senate, Vice President Al Gore's tiebreaking vote gave the Democrats the majority from January 3�January 20, 2001, when the George W. Bush Administration took office and Vice President Dick Cheney's tiebreaking vote gave the Republicans the majority once again. Later in 2001, he became Senate Minority Leader again after Vermont senator Jim Jeffords became an independent and caucused with the Democrats, allowing them to regain the majority. He was due to become majority leader again in early 2003 after Republican gains in the November 2002 elections. Shortly after the Strom Thurmond controversy, however (see below), he resigned from his leadership positions.

Since he lost the Majority Leader post, Lott has been less visible on the national scene. However, Lott broke ranks with many conservatives when he said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign within a year[citation needed]. He battled with President Bush over military base closures in his home state. Many Capitol Hill observers believe Lott blames the Bush White House, especially GOP political strategist Karl Rove, for the loss of his post as Senate leader. He showed support for passenger rail initiatives, notably his 2006 bipartisan introduction, with Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, of legislation to provide 80 percent federal matching grants to intercity rail and guarantee adequate funding for Amtrak.[3] On July 18, 2006, Lott voted with 19 Republican senators for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act to lift restrictions on federal funding for the research.

It was not until 2007 that Lott regained a leadership position in the Senate, when he was named Minority Whip after defeating Lamar Alexander of Tennessee 24-23.[4]


Sen. Trent Lott with Former Speaker of the House Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) at the 2004 Republican National Convention; both Lott and Gingrich provided consistent support to President George W. Bush.Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire said, after Lott's election as Senate Minority Whip, "He understands the rules. He's a strong negotiator." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he's "the smartest legislative politician I've ever met."[5]


[edit] 2006 re-election campaign
Main article: United States Senate election in Mississippi, 2006
Lott faced no Republican opposition in the race.[6]

State representative Erik Fleming placed first of four candidates in the June Democratic primary, but did not receive the 50 percent of the vote required to earn the party's nomination. He and second-place finisher Bill Bowlin faced off in a runoff on June 27, and Fleming won with 65% of the vote.

Fleming, however, was not regarded as a serious opponent, and Lott handily defeated him with 64% of the vote.


[edit] Resignation
On November 26, 2007, news media reported that Lott intends to resign his Senate seat by the end of 2007. No official announcement has been made, nor has any particular reason been given for his decision.[1]


[edit] Controversies

[edit] Resignation from Senate leadership
Tremendous political controversy ensued following remarks Lott made on December 5, 2002 at the 100th birthday party of Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Thurmond ran for President of the United States in 1948 on the Dixiecrat (or States' Rights) ticket. Lott said:

"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either."

Thurmond had based his presidential campaign largely on an explicit racial segregation platform. Many political commentators inferred that because Lott expressed support for Thurmond's campaign, Lott was implicitly supporting racial segregation. Lott had attracted controversy before in issues relating to civil rights. As a Congressman, he voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act, voted against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act and opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday. Lott also maintained for many years an affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens, which is described as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Lott hosted Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) leaders, an American "paleoconservative" political organization that supports a large variety of localized grassroots causes including white separatism, at his Senate office in 1997[citation needed] and addressed its events at least three times in the 1990s. As a keynote speaker at a 1992 CCC convention, Lott heaped praise on its members: "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy… Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries!"

Lott's attempts to explain the remark grew from a mild dismissal as an off-the-cuff remark supporting Thurmond's national defense platform to an explicit repudiation of his past and assertions of support for affirmative action in a BET interview.

Once reported in newspapers and television, calls for his resignation as majority leader from both ends of the political spectrum grew. Some Democrats and Republicans considered the remark inappropriate. Al Gore called the statement "fundamentally racist." Many conservative groups and media were quick to distance themselves from Lott and criticize the incident. Centrist Democrats and Republicans at first defended Lott, insisting the remarks had been blown out of proportion. Some pointed to Sen. Robert Byrd's past as recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan to suggest a double standard, as Byrd was not forced from his leadership position in the Democratic Party. Others saw Lott's remarks as simply an attempt to compliment Thurmond on his 100th birthday, devoid of any real meaning beyond the context.

Under pressure from Senate colleagues, and having lost the support of the White House, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader on December 20, 2002. Bill Frist of Tennessee was later elected to the leadership position.

Lott was chosen by his colleagues as Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee after the controversy. Some of his critics for the original remarks have noted that this position still carries a great deal of power, and that conservatives and Republicans were mainly using the whole controversy to get rid of a leader they regarded as weak, particularly in the conduct of the Clinton impeachment trial.

In the book Free Culture, Larry Lessig argues that the resignation of Lott would not have occurred had it not been for the effect of Internet blogs. He says that though the story "disappear[ed] from the mainstream press within forty-eight hours", "bloggers kept researching the story" until, "[f]inally, the story broke back into the mainstream press."


[edit] Pork spending
Lott has been criticized by many on the right for his eagerness for pork spending, which is federal money spending on state projects. Traditionally pork spending can lead to a local short term economic gains, thus increasing the incumbent senator's chance of reelection. Lott was quoted as saying "I'll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I'm getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina."[7]

He was also quoted by Senator Tom Coburn in his 2002 book Breach of Trust advocating for pork stating, "Balancing the budget is a nice idea, but I got an election to win."


[edit] On the 2007 Immigration Bill
Lott's current comments supporting comprehensive immigration reform has pitted him against his base and talk radio, which is generally conservative. His quote, "Talk radio and one hit wonder internet gurus are running America. We have to deal with that problem" illustrates the blame many in the Senate leadership have given for the overwhelming public opposition to this bill. He is quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "I'm sure senators on both sides of the aisle are being pounded by these talk-radio people who don't even know what's in the bill." On June 26, Lott joined with Senator Ted Kennedy to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639).

Statement by Trent Lott on the Senate Floor, Thursday, June 7, 2007:

"Can we do anything anymore? I don't like a lot of these amendments. I don't like a lot of what is in the bill. I was in and out of the meetings, but I was not one of the people that worked in the so-called Grand Bargain. Some people are acting now like it was a sinister operation. I don't believe so. Everybody knew there was an effort underway. Republicans were involved. Democrats were involved. The Administration was involved. Conservatives, liberals, agriculture, everybody. Now we are going to pick it to death. I just don't think this is responsible. I am getting calls, but I would say to my constituents, Do you have no faith in me after 35 years? That I'm just going to buy a pig in a poke here? Or be for something that's bad?..."


[edit] On S. 2205 the "Dream Act" Immigration Bill
"On October 24, 2007 Lott voted in favor of the Cloture Motion that would allow the Senate to proceed to consider S. 2205, the "Dream Act", [[2]]


[edit] Author
Lott wrote a memoir entitled Herding Cats, A Life in Politics. In the book, Lott spoke out on the infamous Strom Thurmond birthday party gaffe, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and about his feelings of betrayal toward the Tennessee Senator, claiming "If Frist had not announced exactly when he did, as the fire was about to burn out, I would still be majority leader of the Senate today." He also described former Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota as "trustworthy." He also reveals that President Bush, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, and other GOP leaders played a major role in ending his career as Senate Republican Leader.


[edit] Trivia
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

One of Lott's Senate staff personnel in Mississippi is the singer Guy Hovis, a Mississippi native formerly with the Lawrence Welk Show and also the former husband of singer Ralna English, a native of Lubbock, Texas.
With fellow Senator Larry Craig and former Senators John Ashcroft and James Jeffords formed a barbershop quartet called The Singing Senators.
Congressman Chip Pickering (R-MS) and Congressman Roger Wicker (R-MS) are both former staffers for Trent Lott.
Mississippi lawyer Richard Scruggs, notable for his role in the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry, is Lott's brother-in-law. Scruggs is currently representing Lott in a lawsuit against insurance company State Farm because of damage stemming from Hurricane Katrina.
In 1962, during Trent's presidency of his fraternity, Sigma Nu, 24 weapons were confiscated in a raid by federal marshals during desegregation of the University of Mississippi. However, there is no evidence that Lott knew of the guns, or that they were used in any type of violence, and in all likely-hood, they were just used for hunting.[8]
The Star Wars character Lott Dod was named in part after Trent Lott.[citation needed]
In January 1999, thanks to Lott's intense lobbying, three Southern states received 14 extra days of duck hunting that month.[citation needed]
A school in Pascagoula, Mississippi is named after him, Trent Lott Middle School.
Was against U.S. Navy aircraft carriers being named after living people, e.g., the USS Ronald Reagan.[citation needed]
Son Of Nun has a song entitled Trent Lott.