Kautzman's AP GO PO Blog

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) will announce this afternoon that he’s retiring from the Senate late next month, stunning Republicans who had only last year reinstated Lott to their leadership ranks.

Lott, 66, the minority whip, made the decision over the Thanksgiving weekend with his family in Pascagoula, Miss., according to a senior Republican insider. Lott’s move shocked Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have seen a wave of veterans announce their decision to retire next year as the GOP looks increasingly certain to remain in the minority. But Lott is the most senior Republican to announce he is leaving office, and his decision comes barely a year after he won re-election to a six-year term.

Lott’s departure is equally stunning because, after cruising to his re-election last year, he completed a political rehabilitation from allegations of racial insensitivity because of remarks he made at a 100th birthday party for Strom Thurmond in December 2002, which led to his banishment from GOP leadership. Last November, after four years as a back-bench Republican who burnished his image as a deal-maker, Lott won a narrow race to become GOP whip, the No. 2 post in leadership.

“Fatigue has set in,” said the GOP aide, requesting anonymity to speak freely about a decision that will not be formal until a noon press conference in Pascagoula. (Check back to Capitol Briefing during the day for updates on Lott’s press conference.)

Lott grew tired of the political infighting in the Senate as Republicans have been forced into a position of merely blocking a Democratic agenda, the aide said, stressing that the decision was not connected to any health or ethical issues.

Gov. Haley Barbour (R) will be allowed to appoint a successor to the seat, but a special election to fill the remainder of the term is likely to be scheduled for next November. Barbour and Lott are both close to Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), who worked for the senator before winning his own House seat. Pickering had decided earlier this year to retire at the end of next year rather than run for re-election to his House seat. Democrats had been wooing former state Attorney General Michael Moore to run against Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) next year but Moore demurred. (See “The Fix” for more details about the race to succeed Lott in Mississippi.)

Lott’s departure is the biggest blow yet to Republicans who have been fighting the perception that they will remain in the minority in both the House and Senate for some time to come. While many of the retiring GOP lawmakers were former subcommittee chairs and senior members not happy with minority status, Lott is the first member of either chamber’s leadership to announce he will walk away from the Capitol.

Today’s decision will complete a two-year roller coaster ride for Lott and his emotional investment in the Senate. In December 2005, Lott returned home for the holidays expecting to announce his retirement at the end of 2006. But, as he and his aides later explained, he reversed course and decided to run for re-election because he wanted to help the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Lott lost his home in the storm, and complained at the time that he had little personal money to rebuild his Pascagoula home destroyed by the hurricane.

Billions in hurricane rebuilding funds have been approved, and a veto override this month to save a water projects bill should keep the Gulf Coast in good stead for years to come. Moreover, Mississippi Sen.Thad Cochran, Lott’s Republican counterpart, surprised some in Washington when he announced he would seek a sixth term. That took political pressure off Lott, who would not have wanted two Mississippi Senate seats up in the same year, Republican officials said.

He was first elected to the House in 1972, where he served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach President Nixon. He rose to House Republican whip in the 1980s, then won a Senate seat in 1988. He became GOP whip in 1995, and won the race to succeed former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) when he stepped down as majority leader in June 1996 to pursue the presidency.

Lott had been excoriated for his remarks at Thurmond’s birthday party five years ago, during which he reminisced about Thurmond’s failed presidential bid in 1948, saying that the United States “wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years” if the segregationist candidate had won. The comment was widely condemned, including by President George Bush, who helped recruit Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to replace Lott as majority leader.