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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Lott Officially Resigns, All Eyes Now on Barbour Lott Officially Resigns, All Eyes Now on Barbour By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi resigned at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, bringing more than 30 years of congressional service to a close and creating an instant vacancy in the Senate. The Republican Whip’s resignation letter was announced on the Senate floor just after midnight Wednesday. Now, Gov. Haley Barbour has 10 days to replace him, at least for the time being. And all signs point to either Rep. Charles W. “Chip” Pickering Jr. or Republican Rep. Roger Wicker. Barbour declared that the election to choose a permanent successor will occur on Nov. 4, 2008, but Democrats and legal analysts have cried foul, saying the decision violates state election code. The code states that an election must be held within 90 days of the governor’s proclamation of a special election unless a general election is held that year. The state Democratic party expects the governor to call the special election within 100 days of the vacancy because Lott is resigning this year. The party noted this week that the state Attorney General’s office released an opinion Monday that upholds the Democrats’ position. If Lott had resigned in January, there would have been less special election controversy because the Nov. 4 election date would have been indisputable. But many speculate that Lott is resigning this year to avoid lobbying restrictions that will take effect for members beginning in January. Republican insiders say Pickering of the 3rd District is first in line for the appointment, but some doubt whether Pickering is jumping at the chance. Pickering announced earlier this year plans to retire from the House in January 2009 to focus on his family and work in the private sector. “I don’t want to put words in his mouth if he’s changed his mind,” Marty Wiseman, Director of Mississippi State University’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government said of Pickering this week. “But from talking to people who know him, and know him well, he hadn’t backed off of his expression of a need to get out of Washington for a while.” Wiseman added that much speculation in the state is currently centered on Wicker of the 1st District as the appointee if Pickering is not interested. Others believe Barbour is likely to choose a candidate from a pool of state officials including Tate Reeves, Mississippi Treasurer or a Republican whose appointment would not necessitate an election to fill their seat. If the Republican successor chosen as appointee decides to run next November, state GOP chairman Jim Herring said it will be a “big advantage” to the candidate and the party. Although not a full-fledged incumbent, the appointee will have served in the Senate for most of a year at the time of the election. Regardless of the special election timing, the Democratic scope of the race dramatically changed last week when former State Attorney General Mike Moore, highly regarded as a top Democratic candidate for the seat, announced that he does not plan to run in the election for a permanent successor. Even before Moore’s announcement, former Governor Ronnie Musgrove was discussed as a possible Democratic candidate for the seat. Ronnie Musgrove, who served from 2000 to 2004, told CQ Politics Monday that he is “seriously considering” running next November. Musgrove believes that one reason he’s been heavily courted by Democrats is his proven ability to build bipartisan consensus. “People are just frustrated with the partisanship, the bickering and the lack of finding the solutions to the difficult issues,” Musgrove said. Another former governor, Ray Mabus, also is being discussed as a top Democratic contender for the seat. Mabus served as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia after his gubernatorial tenure from 1988 to 1992. Republicans begin the impending special election race with a strong advantage. Like much of the south, the state has become increasingly Republican in recent years. Barbour was easily re-elected in a November election that saw the GOP win seven out of eight statewide offices. CQ Politics currently rates the November 2008 Senate race as Republican Favored. If Barbour chooses Wicker to appoint to the Senate, the GOP will have to find two House candidates in a short period — one for Pickering’s seat and one for Wicker’s — while a Pickering appointment would mean just one. State law calls for a special election to be held to fill a House vacancy within 60 days of the opening. Candidates would be required to file for that race at least 20 days prior to the election. Source: CQ Today
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#1. To: Fred Mertz (#0)
FYI.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
The code states that an election must be held within 90 days of the governor’s proclamation of a special election unless a general election is held that year. Well, that answers my questions I just made on the other thread. Clear as mud.
If Lott had resigned around Christmas time and Barbour named his replacement the first week of January 2008, then (in my mind) this controversy could have been avoided, no?
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