Sorry, there is no way that the voters are going to focus TWO YEARS FROM NOW on a flap-of-the-week throwaway line from Trent Lott. The great majority of voters don't even get the connection between Strom Thurmond and the "Dixiecrats" platform of 1948 (nine years before I was even born!)
Stop believing everything the Democrats' media consultants (a.k.a. the Big Three networks plus CNN) are telling you.
Good grief.