Senator Lott retires

Late Tuesday night, December 18, 2007, Trent Lott officially retired from the Senate. This puts into play his Senate seat which has 5 years left on the term. For previous discussions on his retirement please see our post on November 26th. According to Governor Barbour the election will be held a the same time as the general Presidential election and his interim appointee will be named shortly. The leading candidate seems to be Roger Wicker with Chip Pickering and Mike Moore being the other 2 names most heard. This is despite the fact Moore says he will not run.

Additionally, and almost expectedly, MS Attorney General Jim Hood disputes Governor Barbour's reading of the timing of the election (whether to have a special election or not) as reported in the Clarion Ledger. I personally read it more like the Governor on this one but it is open to interpretation and I think Gov. Barbour with Sec. of State Eric Clark will win on this one, especially with the very conservative Supreme Court in Mississippi. For those of you who didn't know Mississippi has a State Board of Election Commissioners which consist of the Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, per MS Code 23-15-211.