From The New York Times:
PASCAGOULA, Miss., Nov. 26 — Senator Trent Lott’s announcement on Monday that he would resign in a few weeks added to the growing Republican exodus from Congress, but may have strengthened Mr. Lott’s post-Senate job prospects.
By retiring before the end of the year, Mr. Lott, the 66-year-old minority whip and Mississippi dealmaker who fell from power with a remark touching on segregation but then bounced back, avoids new rules forcing senators to wait two years before lobbying former colleagues.