The Brian Lehrer Show

And even funnier, if Lott leaves before yearend 07, MS governor must declare a special election within 90 days, as opposed to Barbour's announced plan to appoint an interim until Nov 08 & schedule the special election to coordinate with the national. The latter plan would both give the R interim more time to gain popular support, plus give the R interim the tailwinds of greater voter turnout in a R state for a prez election year. Tsk, tsk, that low is a persnickety thing.

what about any ted stevens connection

Make that "law" at the end of my comment, not "low."

how much do lobbyists typically make? how much money are we talking? an increase of what?

A voice on behalf of those leaving public service. If you've been in government for a substantial period of time your professional skills and contacts erode. What do you expect someone leaving government to do? They must capitalize on the skills and contacts they've developed over the past several years in order to earn a decent living. You can't accumulate enough money while in government to start up a new business that is unrelated to your public service. The public interest must be protected, but the departing government worker must be allowed to utilize the skills and contacts he/she has developed in order to earn a living.

Brian Hasbrouck

Lobbiests, themselves, make 100s of thousands/year. But that's only the tip 'o iceberg. It's how they pollute the political process that's the real rot. If you want a really good book on how the national Rs have done this, read Follow the Money by John Anderson. Besides being really revealing, it's a page turner.

Brian Lehrer,

Please have John on as a guest. Here's a link to a book salon he did:

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/11/25/fdl-book-salon-follow-the-money/

What is a departing government worker to do after leaving government if not utilize the contacts and skills you've developed while in government? You can't accumulate enough money while in public service to start up a business unless it's utilizing the skills/contacts you've developed while in public service. There are two sides to this coin.

The reason why there isn't much outrage is because people do not think that this issue affects them. As long as the average Joe/Jill can fill his/her belly, buy beer, afford to fill up the SUV, have low stress on the job and take the family out to dinner on Sunday night, he/she doesn't care.

You are asking people with very little education or who have forgotten their education to think beyond their own self interest. Politicians understand this very well. They are not going to waste their time on issues that the average person can't understand in 30 seconds.

Now gov't corruption does affect the average american, but unless the average american can connect the dots, he or she will not care.

It's sad, I know, but that is reality.

Does it say something about the press coverage, specifically of Mark Halpern, that he DID NOT mention the lobbying connexion with Trent Lot on yesterdays's LLopate Show -- that it was a WNYC listener who brought it up!? He actually said that this is the rare case where Lott actually does want to spend time w/ family! Mr Halpern has a broad command of the topics -- but he always seems to emphasize the shortcomings of Democrats and minimize those of Republicans: I remember he was alone in judging George Bush winner of the debates with Kerry... And while he was political coverage cheif at ABC they ran a crawl under John Edwards' convention speech that was hugely distracting.

So your guests offer, without challenge, the rumor that Lott is kanoodling with a gay prostitute. And they're justifying their use of this rumor on its appearance on political websites. I expect a lot more from you.

Johnny S

I agree with you. The rumor was all over the blogs yesterday, but that's an enitrely different medium than the Brian Lehrer show. The blog most sensitive to NOT perpetrating such rumors was americablog, a lefty one that's political in general, but also focuses on gay issues.

johnny, guess u were happy with the NJ press ingnoring 'rumors' about a former governor who was hiring his 'friends'