Trent Lott to announce intentions on Tuesday

[TheresNoMoney]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/01/lott_to_decide.html

"Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) is about to let us know what he wants to do next year.

Next Tuesday, 1/17, Lott plans to announce whether he'll retire or run for a fourth term in the Senate.

Clues? His events are in Pascagoula and Jackson. The first event is it a local inn; the second is on the steps of the state capitol building. And the media has two full hours to set up in advance, which means that Lott's folks expect a lot.

Oh -- and he's spending this week in Hawaii.

The betting in Washington is that Lott, who lost his family home in Hurricane Katrina, will retire, but his closest friends say he vacillates."

My expectation all along has been that he'll run for re-election and I'm sticking to it.

[minionofmidas]

Steps of the state capitol building sort of sounds to me as if he's running again, but an American would probably better at judging the significance of summat like that.

[Q]

Steps of the state capitol building sort of sounds to me as if he's running again, but an American would probably better at judging the significance of summat like that.

You're probably right.

Who would make 2 separate announcements of retirement?  That there are 2 separate events seems like the second one will be his first stop on the campaign, with the one at his home being the announcement of his intentions.  Just smells like he's running again.

[7,052,770]

I still have faith that he's retiring.  And if he doesn't I still want Moore to run.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Another possibility is that he's found someone to back for the Republican primary.  If so, he first event would be to announce the retirement and the second would be to introduce his favored replacement.

[nini2287]

A local inn sounds like it might be retirement.  If he were running for re-election, would he make such a big deal about it?

[Rococo4]

I say he retires thoguh I hope I am wrong.  There seems to be a ton of buzz surrounding Mike Moore on the Dem side if Lott goes, but it would have to be a huge Democrat victrory nationwide for this one to flip.  I would think Chip Pickering would be the favorite to hold onto the seat.

[Adlai Stevenson]

You're probably right: in a Pickering-Moore contest I'd expect the deciding edge to be with Pickering.  However, I think Democrats would be just as happy to make the GOP have to spend time and money in a Red State where the result was in doubt.  I don't think Pickering would win by more than 52%-47% as well.

[Rococo4]

your probably right about that.  it would force the GOP to spend money to defend it

[MarkWarner08]

I hope this is on C-Span. A Lott retirement would be a great way to start a dreary Oregon Tuesday.

[7,052,770]

only a few hours now till I know how I'll spend my summer...

[socaldem]

You're probably right: in a Pickering-Moore contest I'd expect the deciding edge to be with Pickering.  However, I think Democrats would be just as happy to make the GOP have to spend time and money in a Red State where the result was in doubt.  I don't think Pickering would win by more than 52%-47% as well.

I think Moore would definitely make the race interesting... perhaps, winnable..

That said, I don't quite understnad the seemingly conventional logic of trying to make the other side spend money...if MOore makes the race, wouldn't the Democrats also be spending money, meaning that both sides have reductions in the amount of money they have to spend on other races...

That said, because of the dual announcements, I'm betting Lott stays.  Perhaps, though, one annoucement if for Lott's retirement and, the other, is to kick off the Pickering campaign with a Lott endorsement... btw, Lott's probably announcing in front of an inn in his hometown because his house no longer exists...

[TheresNoMoney]

Lott will almost certainly run again. I definitely don't see him walking away.

[Ben.]

I did a search on google and one for the first hits was “Lott Steps Down” – sadly turned out to be from a year or two back

I think he’ll probably run, word is his told all his big backers that he’s running and that kind of buzz is usually for real, it’s a shame an open race between Pickering and Moore would have been very competitive.   

[7,052,770]

anyone know what time the announcement is?

[TheresNoMoney]

No surprise, Hotline is reporting that he's seeking re-election.

[7,052,770]

I don't see anything on Drudge or any of the news sites.

Expect me to be very upset if he seeks reelection...

[nini2287]

The Dem chances on tradesports have increased slightly; maybe he's not running or has hinted that he's not?

[7,052,770]

Hmmm...I wish I could turn on the TV, but my roommate's asleep, or I'd check cspan, cnn, etc.  Right now, though, I find nothing on the internet, not even Drudge, even though the announcement apparently began 10 minutes ago.

[7,052,770]

His retirement would be a much bigger story than him seeking reelection, so right now I'm thinking no news is bad news...

[minionofmidas]

He's running. It's official.

[7,052,770]

He's running. It's official.

source?

[TheresNoMoney]

Apparently they're showing it on CSPAN and he announced that he's running, which shouldn't surprise anyone.

He never was going to retire, he just wanted to make the RNC sweat a little and see what they could offer him.

[7,052,770]

[minionofmidas]

You can still vote against him.