In my home state of Mississippi, the term “eternal security” refers not just to personal salvation but to our seats in the United States Senate. These senators tend to be wheeled out of the Senate chamber at the end of their careers/lives. So I am really, really surprised to hear reports this morning that U.S. Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss) is resigning suddenly.
The news is still sketchy, with no reason noted in the sources leaking the information, but Sen. Lott plans to hold news conferences in Mississippi today.
This is bad news for the Katrina-torn Gulf Coast, which needs all the seniority it can get in the Senate. If Lott does resign, expect U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, a former Southern Baptist International Mission Board journeyman and father of five young sons, to be appointed to the seat by Gov. Haley Barbour.
Lott, of course, was the source of infamous controversy in 2002 over his remarks about Strom Thurmond’s 1948 “Dixiecrat” campaign for the White House, remarks that cost Lott his Senate Majority Leader’s position.
