A HUMBLED TRENT LOTT RETURNS TO POWER

Four years after racially insensitive remarks cost him the Senate’s top post, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi reemerged to take the Republican Party’s second-highest Senate post as minority whip. “I realized I had offended a great many people, and I learned a valuable lesson four years ago,” said Lott. “Today, I am deeply aware that every human being has value, and I have the utmost respect for the diversity of this great nation. And to the African American people in particular—I want you to know that I have not used the word ‘nigger’ since my maid quit."