Trent Lott won't be missed. :bad:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21980146/Lott ends 34-year Congress careerBy Andrew Ward in Washington
updated 2:42 p.m. PT, Mon., Nov. 26, 2007
Trent Lott, one of America's best-known and most controversial senators, is to retire before the end of this year after more than three decades representing his native Mississippi on Capitol Hill.
The 66-year-old earned notoriety in 2002 when he made racially insensitive comments at the 100th birthday party of Strom Thurmond, the segregationist then-senator and one-time presidential candidate.Mr Lott was forced to resign as Senate majority leader amid uproar over his claim that the US would have had fewer problems in subsequent years had it elected Mr Thurmond president in 1948.
He returned to the Republican leadership in Congress last January as Senate minority whip, signalling the resurrection of his political career.
Mr Lott said he felt it was the right time to step down after nearly 19 years in the Senate and 34 years in Congress. He said there were no "negative" reasons, insisting he simply wanted to spend more time with his family and explore new opportunities in the private sector and education.
Mr Lott denied that he had been influenced by an imminent regulatory change that would make it harder for former members of Congress to become lobbyists. Starting next year, members of Congress will have to wait two years after leaving Capitol Hill before they become lobbyists, up from one year.
Mr Lott is the sixth Republican senator to announce plans to step down during the current election cycle, deepening the sense of malaise within the party's Congressional delegation after losing last year's midterm elections.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will appoint a successor to replace Mr Lott until next year's elections, when the seat will be contested. Mr Lott won 64 per cent of the vote when he was re-elected in 2006 and the Republicans are expected to comfortably keep hold of the seat next year.
Mr Lott intended to step down in 2006 but decided to seek an additional term to help Mississippi recover from Hurricane Katrina. His home in Pascagoula was destroyed by the 2005 storm.