Lott apologized yesterday for his "poor choice of words" in suggesting that the country would have been better off if Strom Thurmond were elected in 1948. Now there’s an understatement. Gore offered some simplistic denunciation of Lott’s original comments on CNN’s Inside Politics, which reaffirmed that he can’t talk about anything without seeming preachy.

But the Lott comments become more serious because Lott wants to push through Judge Pickering, a native of Mississippi, for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Pickering was voted down by the Judiciary Committee this year, but may be renominated by Bush. The race issue may again become prominent because Pickering wrote an article on anti-miscegenation law back in I believe the 50s which did not condemn the practice. Lott nonetheless has expressed his desire to have Pickering’s nomination handled as one of the first in the new session. Look for Lott’s comments to come back to haunt him, and the party at these hearings.