The Party's Over

On Nov. 26, former Majority Leader Trent Lott became the seventh Republican to announce plans to depart the Senate. The move has fanned Democratic hopes of a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in that chamber and GOP fears that the party is in a downward spiral.

Lott plans to step down before the end of the year, which means Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour can replace him with a Republican who can then run as an incumbent in a special election next year. But retiring GOP Senators from Virginia, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Idaho are all planning to serve out their terms--leaving their...

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