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Lott Cashes in Chips

Posted Dec 19, 07 4:48 PM CST in Politics 

(Newser) – Minority whip Trent Lott retired from the Senate last night, five years before his term’s end. He revealed his departure 16 minutes before the chamber’s 12:05 a.m. closing. The 35-year Congressional career ended with “characteristic flair,” the AP reports—Lott quoting his high school motto from the Senate floor: “The glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time you fail.”

Lott was obligated to resign at least one day before the Senate's holiday recess, but waited until such a late hour so he could vote on end-of-term bills. The former majority and minority leader from Mississippi, said to keep a bullwhip in his office, saw his tenure tarnished in 2002 after nostalgic remarks about Strom Thurmond’s segregationist presidential run.

Source Associated Press

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U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., announces his retirement from Congress, during a news conference in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. Lott, who is capping off a 35-year in the House and Senate, will...   (Associated Press)
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., speaks during a news conference in Pascagoula, Miss., Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announced Monday he will retire from the Senate before January,...   (Associated Press)
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., announces his retirement from Congress, during a news conference in Jackson, Miss., on Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. Lott, who is capping off a 35 years in the House and Senate, will...   (Associated Press)
(FILE PHOTO) U.S. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott As A Cheerleader   (Getty Images)
In a 1997 file photo "The Singing Senators," left to right, Sen. Trent Lott   (KRT Photos)
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