Lott Waits for Clinton's Apology and Gets One

By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane
Thursday, October 25, 2007

It's a good thing she apologized, because Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) was fixin' to give Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) a piece of his mind.

Lott was on the cusp of issuing a serious condemnation of the Democratic presidential front-runner for insulting the Magnolia State this week when his phone rang.

"To her credit, she called me [Tuesday] and apologized," Lott told On the Hill.

Clinton chose wisely to make the quick apology after insulting Mississippians with a comment she made in an interview with Iowa's most important political reporter, the Des Moines Register's David Yepsen. Clinton was quoted expressing complete "shock" at learning that Iowa and Mississippi were the only states that have never elected a female governor or a female member of either chamber of Congress.

"How can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi?" she asked, implying the Hawkeye State is above such distinction. "That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism, that's not the openness I see in Iowa."

Lott was furious when aides notified him of the put-down. He said he wanted to sound off right away but instead paused and waited to read the entire context of her remarks, something he said he has learned to do the hard way because of his own various guffaw-inducing statements over the years. (Those include not just his praise of the 1948 Dixiecrat presidential candidate Strom Thurmond, but also his comments after Clinton won her Senate race in 2000 that "maybe lightning will strike" her and she would die before getting sworn into the chamber.) "I understand that we sometimes say what we don't always mean to say," Lott said.

Still, he is a little disturbed that Clinton views Mississippi as politically sexist. He noted that the last two lieutenant governors have been women and that the first female jurist was recently appointed to the state's U.S. District Court.

Plus, Lott added, who is Clinton to talk? "Having lived in Arkansas, which is something of a whipping boy, too, she knows better than that," Lott said.

Craig Watch -- RSVP Yes?

Senate Republican political operatives are biting their nails, worried that Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) is going to crash the National Republican Senatorial Committee's upcoming fundraising retreat in Sea Island, Ga.

Sources tell On the Hill that Craig RSVP'd "yes" to the event, even though Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), chairman of the NRSC, has served as the public pit bull for GOP leaders attacking Craig for his misadventures with the law in Minnesota. NRSC staff had to telephone Craig's staff and explain that it would be best if Craig weren't at the Nov. 9-11 event, which will draw the NRSC's biggest PAC donors, according to sources.

Craig, who has been burning up his own campaign cash to pay for legal bills relating to his airport men's room escapade, is definitely not on the attendee list, an NRSC official said. But that doesn't mean Craig won't show up where he's not wanted -- he's still in the Senate, after all.

The Cheney Chuckle

It's been a tough year for Vice President Cheney, with his former chief of staff getting a presidential commutation of his sentence and an unpopularity rating that has left him nearly invisible. ("In the Loop" helmsman Al Kamen has gone so far as to start a "Where's Cheney" feature on Wednesdays and Fridays. Any new sightings, please e-mail whereistheveep@washpost.com.) But we're told that the veep had at least one good laugh this week, when he appeared at the weekly Senate Republican luncheon on Tuesday.

The theme of the lunch was so political that the GOP leaders moved the lunch to the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee a few blocks from the Capitol, so they could strong-arm the rank-and-file senators to give and raise more money for the NRSC. Attendees watched a highlights reel of unfavorable news clips about Democrats, including one that brought down the house. It was CNN's report on the vote to strip a $1 million earmark for a museum honoring the Woodstock music festival, a provision that was sought by Clinton and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). We're told Cheney watched with a belly laugh.

We're guessing that, unlike her apologetic phone call to Lott, Clinton still hasn't phoned Cheney to apologize for calling him " Darth Vader" a month ago.

Something to Talk About

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) has more than fulfilled her daydream of hanging out with a rock star. She wound up totally bonding with legendary redhead Bonnie Raitt over lunch this week and realizing the two of them have a close mutual friend.

DeGette lunched Tuesday with Raitt and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jackson Browne, both of whom -- along with Graham Nash-- were on Capitol Hill lobbying against a provision in the energy bill moving through Congress that would provide taxpayer funding for new nuclear power plants.

Turns out, Raitt's roommate at Harvard was DeGette's mentor and professor some years later at New York University Law School. Raitt whipped out her cellphone and dialed her old college buddy and said, "You will never believe who I'm sitting here having lunch with . . . your old student, Diana DeGette!"

Feeling like more than just a roadie at that point, DeGette invited Raitt and Browne to perform at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver next summer. Later, the congresswoman was heard bragging about her star-studded lunch at a senior Democratic whip meeting. (Get ready to cringe: We hear the whip's meeting devolved into group-singing of Bonnie Raitt songs.)

Send in the Reid-Inforcements

Hit with terrible poll numbers back home, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is bringing back one of his most trusted advisers: Susan McCue, his former chief of staff who left in January to take over the One Campaign, the catchall group founded by U2 front man Bono to fight global poverty and raise health standards in Third World nations.

McCue, who is leaving One effective Dec. 1, will serve as an outside consultant for Bono's group and also take on a strategic communications consulting role for Reid's political team. McCue's touch may be necessary, not just in helping shape the fights against Senate Republicans and the White House. Earlier this month, a Mason-Dixon Poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal showed Reid to be the most unpopular politician in Nevada, with a job-approval rating at a dismal 32 percent.