I earlier predicted Lott would step down as ML within the week -- that seems to be on track. The White House has made it's decision and Nichols has broken the ice.
Now for a further predicton: Mitch McConnell will be the new ML. His hardball statements on THIS WEEK (in re the censure move) will win him support of Lott loyalists while not alienating Lott's republican critics (who want Lott gone, not because of his comments per se, but because he's hurting the party). Nichols, by being the first to call for Lott's ouster, has effectively taken himself out of the Majority Leaders race -- and he knows it.