Rest In Peace, John Ashcroft

No, he's not dead. I just hope he takes a nice long vacation once he finally leaves office.

He's gonna stick around until a successor is named, and then what?

Possibilities that have already been mentioned:

• Join the Supreme Court? I doubt he'd get past the Senate. The filibuster could be spectacular, but I expect the cloture rules to be gutted early in January.
• Run for President? Dear God, I hope not. But let's assume for a moment he would run. He's not moderate enough for me, obviously, but given the way the vote went this time, he'd be a viable Republican candidate. He might not make it through the primaries, but since they've been taken over by the radical Christians, the Repubs have a command-and-control structure second to none. If they do the smart thing - put forward a single candidate in '08, effectively bypassing the primary system, Ashcroft could be their man.
• Go into business? That would be best for the country as a whole.
• Go fishing? As long as he doesn't use dynamite...