Pete Domenici: “let me first say of Senator Lott I must make a slight confession. You know I am leaving next year, and one of the…”

“let me first say of Senator Lott I must make a slight confession. You know I am leaving next year, and one of the reasons I am leaving is because I have an ailment that has an impact on my brain. I say that in all honesty. I already told the whole world that. The point of that is I have difficulty remembering some things. I still am a pretty good Senator, so nobody is fighting about that. I just know that you and I have gone through some incredible legal situations, legislative situations, and I am trying to pull them up now in the next few minutes just to share them with you and to share them with everybody here. I have been here 36 years, which is a little bit longer than Trent, and that is six elections. You must know that I was in the middle of a lot of things or I couldn't have been here 36 years. I am not a back-bencher or an under-the-tabler. I am where the action is, and I lucked out on the committee that did a lot of exciting things. One of the things Trent Lott has taught me about leadership is that it is quiet. It takes place without you knowing it is happening. That is what you did.…”