Sen. Trent Lott to Resign by End of Year

By JACK ELLIOTT The Associated Press Monday, November 26, 2007; 8:05 AM

JACKSON, Miss. -- Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday.

Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in his home state later in the day to reveal his plans. According to congressional and White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective the end of the year.

No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health. The senator has "other opportunities" he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating.

--read entire article--

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The 'rehabilitation' of Senator Trent Lott hit a speed bump when Republicans lost control of the Congress. Trent--the Senator of the cheap wig--thought (and expected) he would live down a few racially insensitive remarks to again become Senate Majority Leader.

Except for the fact that Republicans are no longer in the majority and it's just not as much fun when you no longer have the keys to the car. It's also possible in this age of innuendo and undisclosed A) sexual preferences, B) embarrassing finances and C) photos, that Trent has been encouraged to step down, ahead of some revelation.

Normally such speculation would fall into the realm of unsubstantiated and unfair allegation, but almost nothing is beyond the creativity of this Congress to conjure and so the normal rules of discretion no longer apply.

The wig alone is reason to step aside.

When 'other opportunities' are part of the statement, that's the code word for a lobbyist slot on K-Street or the opening of one's own firm. Trent probably doesn't want to let Dennis Hastert get too much of a jump on him.

* For more in-depth articles by Jim on Washington at Work, check out Opinion-Columns.com