The Doctor is In.

With a little push out the door from George Allen, Lott goes down, to be replaced by Bill Frist of Tennessee. Smart move by the GOP, even if their Contract on America is temporarily hampered…Frist is a much more congenial and Daschle-esque character than Lott, and it’ll be harder for the Dems to paint him as a right-wing ideologue. (Fortunately, there’s always Tom DeLay.)

Mississippi Burning.

On the other side of the aisle, the GOP starts thinking harder about dumping their own embarrassing baggage, despite Trent Lott’s BET plea. If only Lott had taken a page from his idol and merely pretended to be remorseful from the get-go. Update: With Dubya on the sidelines, pundits are putting it in the fridge: Lott will be removed from the Senate leadership. Who will replace him is still up in the air.

A Lott of Trouble.

With some lexis-nexis searches establishing a dubious pattern in Trent Lott’s rhetoric, even Dubya’s piling on now. For his part, Lott’s decided to try the contrition route to see if he can save his seniority. I’d say at this point it’s probably better for the Dems to have him around, just as an ever-present reminder of exactly who the GOP likes to cater to.

Pride of New Hampshire.

Hmm…maybe John Kerry has a better chance in 2004 than I first thought. For one, Dem leaders are starting to publicly beg Gore to stay out of the election. And you know Kerry’s got the Gore crowd worried when Marty Peretz’s Gore Republic starts trying to undercut Kerry’s strengths, such as Vietnam service and foreign policy credentials. More importantly, in a recent New Hampshire poll, Gore is only beating Kerry by three points, 31 to 28. Obviously, being from nearby Massachusetts helps, but if Kerry can pull a McCain-like bounce out of the NH primary without having to spend too much money… Update: In a related story, Joe Lieberman is also starting to make his move.

The Good Old Days.

After a flurry of Internet criticism, GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is forced to apologize for his paean to segregation at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party, a paean which echoed his prior support for such racialist organizations as the Council of Conservative Citizens. So, were Lott’s remarks really a “poor choice of words” or a brief glimpse of something more sinister in the Majority Leader’s character? You be the judge.