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Though Mississippi ranks only 31st among the states in population, it was 15th in per capita defense spending in 1998, according to the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit research group. The state expects to get another $8 billion chunk in the fiscal 2000 defense appropriations bill, thanks to Lott.

In fact, the Senate majority leader has lined up so many new projects for Mississippi that he has had to separate the state into regions in order to list them all. Among the year 2000 deals: destroyers, ship berthing centers, classrooms, barracks, flight simulators, hangars, computer software, crash seats and a tank-firing range. A proposal to build a $1.5 billion ship in Pascagoula is also cruising through Congress, and Lott ensured that a hurricane-hunting 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in Biloxi receives the newest and first models of the C-130J.

"I lobbied hard for those airplanes and I got them," Lott told Arkansans during his visit. "We had C-130s that were 30 to 35 years old, and they were falling apart. Our C-130s are hurricane hunters and that's an important mission. We needed them and we got them."

Lott acknowledged that Mississippi has a new C-130 simulator, a much-needed piece of equipment at Little Rock, which hasn't had one in nearly two decades. Although the Arkansas base isn't scheduled to get its first C-130J until 2006, Lott said "that's not a reasonable schedule if they're going to be the permanent C-130 training school.

"I pledge that I'm going back and I'm going to work hard to not only get C-130J simulators at Little Rock but to also get the C-130Js delivered to Little Rock sooner," Lott stated.

"I was hopeful [about Lott's decision] and I was pleased at how forthright he was," Hutchinson told reporters afterward. "We have it on record and on film and we will hold him to it."

Still, all might not prove to be so rosy in the future battles over these precious military resources, because Lott dropped a new name into the C-130 controversy during his visit: presidential hopeful Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"Now we may have McCain to fight," Lott said, referring to a recent Republican debate when McCain criticized the spending on C-130s, saying: "Look, we've been buying C-130s for 10 years. We're going to have a C-130 in every school yard in America. There's no need for much of the equipment we are purchasing, but the effect of the special interests in Washington and their big contributions can prevent us not only from buying the equipment we need, but taking care of the men and women in the military."

So another showdown over the C-130 could yet be in the works among the various Republican camps.

If so, Arkansas Republicans certainly didn't want Lott to leave town without a reminder of the promises he issued when he was here. Accordingly, the program for his GOP fund-raiser was designed as a souvenir he could take back with him to Washington -- with a model of a C-130 as its centerpiece.
salon.com | Dec. 9, 1999

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