Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., is leaving the Senate because he and his wife decided “it’s time to do something else.” But, as always happens here, other shoes soon began dropping after Lott’s announcement earlier this week. Nobody who has been paying attention in Washington in recent years was fooled by the smiley faces at Lott’s news conferences here or in Pascagoula.

He will leave the Senate one day before new ethics rules double from one year to two the mandatory waiting period before he can lobby former colleagues. Sure enough, within hours of his announcement, Lott conceded that, well, yes, “there are some opportunities out there,” including a possible partnership with former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux, a Democrat and longtime Lott buddy. Breaux’s departure from Patton Boggs this week to open a lobbying firm with his son thus seems hardly coincidental, especially since Lott’s son is also in the influence-peddling business.