IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG TO GET THAT FIRST NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENT

Being from South Mississippi, I make it a point to keep up with what's going on back home. On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Trent Lott (R - MS) announced that he would seek a fourth six-year term in the upper chamber, and didn't brush aside talk that he would seek a leadership post among his Republican collegues

It certainly didn't take very long --- two days, to be exact --- for the Magnolia State's junior senator (fellow Republican Thad Cochran has been there longer) to receive his first newspaper endorsement. The Gannett-owned Hattiesburg American called the 64-year old Lott as a strong advocate for Mississippi's interests in Congress and noted that Since Aug. 29, the Magnolia State has fared better than the Pelican State for one reason: leadership. Lott, Cochran, (Mississippi Governor and former Republican National Committee chairman Haley) Barbour and U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., have simply been more effective than their counterparts in Louisiana.

Lott lost his beachfront home in Pascagoula to Hurricane Katrina, and had harsh words early on for former FEMA Director Michael Brown regarding his agency's ineptness in responding to the disaster. While I don't agree with much of his politics on national issues, I will say that when it comes to supportin' the home folks, there are few better at it than Trent Lott. He was my area's congressman before he went to the upper chamber, and there's a reason why he rarely attracted any opposition come election time.