While it may have been President Bush's shot that killed Trent Lott's bid to hold onto the Senate majority leadership post five years ago, following the Mississippi senator's comments about Sen. Strom Thurmond, the real critical move was from Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, and came a full week earlier, at a press conference with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Before that press conference, Democrats were inclined to give Lott a pass. But Waters' lecture to her party, delivered to a handful of reporters and cameras in the House press gallery studio, changed all of that, and within 10 days Lott had been forced to resign his post.

This is long, but I don't think it's ever been written, so let me explain the whole chain:

On Dec. 5, Lott made his infamous remarks at a 100th birthday celebration for Thurmond, saying he was proud Mississippi had voted for the then-segregationist Thurmond for president in 1948 and adding, "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

That was a Thursday. The remark, broadcast live on C-SPAN, percolated a bit over the weekend, and by Monday morning had gained enough traction to have reporters asking about it on Capitol Hill. But the initial reactions from Democrats were that it was an innocent mistake that could be overlooked and Lott issued a statement saying his comments weren't meant as an endorsement of segregation, but of Thurmond himself.

Talking to reporters, Sen. Tom Daschle, Democrats' leader, said he didn't think Lott intended the comments to be racist and said "There are a lot of times when he and I go to the mike and would like to say things we meant to say differently, and I'm sure this is one of those cases for him as well."

I remember calling the press office for House Democrats' new leader, Nancy Pelosi, and asking if she had any reaction. I was told she didn't think it was that big a story, and that Senate Democrats were handling it. Democrats themselves were sucking the life out of the story.

Skip ahead several hours to a press conference held by the Congressional Black Caucus to announce its new leadership team for the 108th Congress. A reporter asked about Trent Lott, and the CBC's incoming leader, Rep. Elijah Cummings, said he was "shocked" but went no further. Outgoing chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald even said Lott called her to explain, and she seemed ready to accept his explanation:

"I did speak with Senator Lott on yesterday, and he indicated that if he had said anything that offended anyone that he was -- he made a mistake and he was sorry, that he was caught up in the moment and did not realize that it would be interpreted in that fashion. He was just attempting to give Senator Thurmond some praise for the number of years that he had served the public. And that he doesn't always agree with every member of the Senate; he didn't always agree with Senator Wellstone, but he said he had made comments there and thought much of him. He thanked me for calling, and he indicated that he would be issuing an apology, which I guess was in the paper today."

Several CBC members said that was enough on Lott, and told reporters to move to another topic.

But, at the end of the formal press conference, Maxine Waters stepped to the podium and lit the fire that would consume Lott.

"I simply want to say that I think that Mr. Daschle moved too quickly to explain Mr. Lott. I consider that this is a Democratic Party issue. And to the degree that the Democratic Party understands that it must relate to the concerns of African-Americans, they will pause and take into consideration what message this and other kinds of statements like this is sending to the African-American community. It is not enough to simply defend or to explain these kind of statements and then at election time talk about why black Americans should turn out in large numbers."

Within hours House Democratic leaders, including Pelosi, whose office said she didn't think it was a story, were at their own press conference blasting Lott. She even released a statement calling is "as astounding betrayal of what was on his mind," and saying she didn't think "any apology is adequate."

The feeding frenzy was on, Daschle had to reverse course and said he had thought about it more and conclude the remarks really were out of bounds, and the press then began a full-court press that didn't end until Bush had condemned the remarks and Republican senators began to attack rather than defend Lott. When Virginia's two senators announced they would support a challenger to Lott, it was clear to Lott he had lost his conference and had to resign his post.

-- Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times