I don’t know much about him, but I have to wonder if the Republicans are purging any known liabilities in advance of the 2008 election.
One of the things Rove said about the 2006 election was that the Republicans didn’t get rid of the scandal-tainted guys soon enough.
Does Pickering have some skeletons?
I don’t know. Someone else will have to fill us in. I’ve heard he wanted to step down and become a lobbyist, perhaps.
{I have to wonder if the Republicans are purging any known liabilities in advance of the 2008 election.}
If anyone that needs to be purged, it would have to be Sen Ted Stevens of AK.
“Does Pickering have some skeletons?”
Since he is a member of Congress
I heard he has a third nipple. I'm just sayin....
The reports I’ve seen said he wants a few years of family time and there’s speculation about lobbying (i.e. i need some money).
But I disagree on the notion of the Senate being heis next obvious achievement. There is another option. I don’t think Thad is thinking of quitting. Maybe Lott, who will have 4 more years to go (which is not a bad “time out” from Washington) and one can only hope that since Pickering got his start in Lott’s staff that Trent would hand-off to him (because I for one will be glad to see Trent gone, he’s turned into the sort of Senator we are supposed to be sick of).
However, no one has yet mentioned another obvious solution - succeeding Barbour in the Governor’s mansion. Think about it, if he leaves office at the end of 2008, and the next governor campaign is in 2011, well, 3 years is nothing to be out of the limelight.
Plus, if Pickering ever had designs on higher office, governors are a lot more successful in that regard than Senators (can a man named “Chip” ever be elected president?).