Two resignations and one retirement

• What will be the timing of Mississippi's special election?

In the aftermath of Trent Lott's completely unexpected resignation this morning, the controversy that has been rocking the state is when the special election should take place. Governor Barbour said today that the special election would be held in November 2008, along with the congressional and presidential elections -- this would allow Lott's replacement to build incumbency for 11 months, which should help Republicans keep the seat in the hands of the senator chosen by Barbour.

But the media soon started reporting that state law holds that a special election has to be called within 90 days of a resignation if it occurs in the year before normally scheduled elections! This would put the special election to fill Lott's seat some time in February or March, much less time for a new senator to build up incumbency. And remember: Lott will resign in 2007 because he wants to avoid the new lobbying rules that only come into effect for lawmakers leaving office "on or after" December 31st.

Yet, Barbour and the state GOP has no intention of giving in on the special election date... And they are basing their on a very subtle technicality. Check out the text of the law:

The election shall be held within ninety (90) days from the time the proclamation is issued and the returns of such election shall be certified to the Governor in the manner set out above for regular elections, unless the vacancy shall occur in a year that there shall be held a general state or congressional election, in which event the Governor's proclamation shall designate the general election day as the time for electing a Senator.

In other words, if the resignation is the year of a statewide election, the special election shall not be within 90 days. Barbour's office is now arguing that, because there was a statewide election held in November 2007, Lott's resignation falls under this "exception category" and Barbour can "designate" the special election to be in November 2008. The Secretary of State (a Democrat) agreed with Barbour on the basis of what he himself called a "technicality."

This appears to respect neither the spirit of the law (designed to insure that a senator does not serve too long without facing voters) nor the text of the law. Consider the use of "the" in The governor "shall designate the general election day..." In other words, if the resignation falls the year of a statewide election, the governor has to call the special election on the day of that statewide election... which implies that the election has to be in the future and that November 2007's election in no way applies here! The state Democratic Party quickly issued a press release calling for Barbour to respect the law... and it will be interesting to see whether this goes to the courts.

• Timing issues also in IL-14

Former Speaker Dennis Hastert is officially resigning tonight. He has been postponing this for weeks to prevent Illinois Governor Blagojevich from setting the special election on February 5th (the day of the presidential primary which should have a huge Democratic turnout given the candidacy of Obama, the state's senator). Hastert is now betting that it is too late for Blagojevitch to set the general election for February 5th since he would then have to set the primary in mid-January, in less than 2 months.

That does appear to be too crampled a calendar, so Hastert seems to have gotten his wish: that the primary be scheduled on February 5th, and the general election some time late February or beginning of March. Hastert explicitly state this was his main consideration in choosing his resignation date: "“By selecting this specific time to resign, it allows Governor Blagojevich the opportunity to announce a special primary to select candidates for my unexpired term on February 5, 2008." Democrats are likely to be unhappy about this, but at least Hastert did not break any laws in the process.

Three of the four main candidates for the seat -- Republicans Jim Oberweis and Chris Lauzen, Democrat Bill Foster -- have already each donated more than $300,000 of their own money to themselves, leaving 2006 Democratic nominee John Laesch as the only non self-funding candidate. Republicans have a significant edge in this district that trends red traditionally, especially now that Democrats will be deprived of the February 5th boost.

• Carlson bows out

The third congressional story of the day is tragic news from Indiana, where Democratic Rep. Julia Carson announced over the week-end that she has terminal lung cancer; Carson had suffered from other illnesses over the past few months and years, and had not cast a vote in the House since mid-September. Carson will finish her term until next November, and will then not run for re-election -- so this seat will be open. Republicans were already preparing to challenge this seat before this tragic news broke out with state Senator Jon Elrod, but the district is fundamentally blue (Kerry won with 57%).