As soon as Sen. Trent Lott (R-MI) announced that he would be stepping down as minority whip of the U.S. Senate, Washington tongues started wagging about where he might be job hunting. After all, by stepping down now, before December 31, he won’t be subject to a new Senate ethics rule that would keep former members of Congress away from lobbying for two years. Right now, he’ll only have to sit out a year before directly lobbying his former colleagues.