Posted on 05/19/2008 5:18:23 PM PDT by DeweyCA
House GOP leaders have taken the blame for last week’s devastating loss in Mississippi, but in some Republican circles the real culprit is former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss).
Lott created the House opening by opting to leave Congress late last year before tougher lobbying restrictions went into effect. After his departure, Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was appointed to serve out Lott’s unexpired term, which created the need for the special election to fill Wicker’s seat.
Republicans were irked that Lott would retire early just to serve his own financial interests.
But that’s only the tip of the anger iceberg for some GOP members, campaign consultants and K Street insiders concerning Lott, whose office did not respond to several requests to comment for this story.
Lott also bucked his own Mississippi congressional colleagues by supporting Greg Davis, the Southaven mayor and former state legislator who lost to Democrat Travis Childers. The rest of the delegation backed former Tupelo mayor and former Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Chairman Glenn McCullough Jr.
The senior statesman’s decision to go against his delegation contributed to a bruising, hard-fought primary runoff that left Mississippi GOP voters divided — and, quite possibly, left the stronger general-election candidate on the sidelines.
“That race was more about an intra-state fight between Trent Lott and McCullough then anything,” said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). “And McCullough was the better candidate.
Lott’s support gave Davis the edge even though he was weaker against Childers.
“The party loses when people are vengeful,” Wamp added.
Lott helped get McCullough appointed to the TVA but the two later had a falling-out, according to local reports. Details of the dispute are unclear. The Hattiesburg American reported only that McCullough “refused to endorse a Lott-backed TVA initiative that McCullough found to be dubious.”
No matter how the dispute started, it continued with Lott supporting Davis, even though the district was always considered a Tupelo seat and McCullough, the city’s former mayor, would have attracted more of those votes than Davis would have.
Lott acknowledged as much late in the campaign when he spoke on talk radio and on the trail and urged GOP voters to rise above regional state differences.
“Certainly a lot of Republicans are in a bad mood because we’re in the minority and we’ve had this self-inflicted problem in a very important race,” remarked one GOP campaign strategist who works in the Deep South. “Lott chose a candidate with limited general election appeal and I think a lot of people question that.”
Mississippi GOP lawmakers were reluctant to criticize Lott publicly, citing his willingness to stump for Davis in the final weeks of the campaign and his donations to Davis as well as Gregg Harper, an attorney running for the seat that will open up when Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) retires at the end of his term.
“At this point we have to refocus for November,” said Pickering when asked if Lott hurt the GOP’s chances in the race. “John McCain will be at the top of the ticket and Sen. Lott is very close to McCain and he’s going to be doing everything he can to reverse this outcome in November.”
One GOP lobbyist on K Street also cited Lott’s $200,000 gift to his alma mater, the University of Mississippi, as contributing to the perception that he’s not doing everything he can to help House Republican reelection efforts. That money, the source said, would have been better spent on contributions to GOP campaigns across the country.
But even those critical of Lott’s decision to back Davis over McCullough said negative feelings likely won’t linger too long, considering Lott’s 25 years in Congress and lifelong contribution to the party.
“There will be disappointments, lessons learned and some hard feelings,” said one Mississippi Republican politician. “But he has so much good will stored up that the Mississippi GOP family will come back together.”
[The senior statesman’s decision...]
Trent Lott is many things; statesman is not one of them.
IMHO, Lott started the decline of the conservative movement when he rolled for Bill Clinton and did the late night deal that let him off the hook.
This struck a blow deep in the conservative soul.
Lott is worse then a RINO, he betrayed us in the worse way.
Amen, bro. Lott was once a force for good, but he turned to the dark side of the force. What a disappointment and waste.
You could say the same of Baker (LA-6).
Lott's "lifelong contribution to the party" pretty much consisted of being there -- a state that was of dubious value.
I hate this ignorant sentiment. Of course the GOP did nothing to combat it.
LOL!
There is a Dem poll showing Musgrove leading Wicker, 48-40. Since it is a partisan poll used to generate fundraising for Musgrove, take it with a grain of salt. However in light of the painful defeat of MS-01, no seat is safe. Northeast MS is a “swing” region. Musgrove did carry the region when he ran for Governor in 1999.
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